Digital Crisis
by Dark Light Messenger
Summary: At least four years have gone by. Minds twisted. Hearts broken. Secrets kept. And the DigiDestined have been burned badly. When the four worlds connect, will they realize they must regain the trust lost, lest all worlds be destroyed?
1. Before Reading

_Before Reading..._

I think we all agree that before I start the fic, I give you you a few heads up about the changes I've made after the other Digital Crisis.

Writing: Changes to the plot and writing style are in order.

Length: Given how its all the DigiDestined, expect chapters at least 8000 words long. Getting the chapter's content in there not to mention all characters being mentioned takes up space, my friends.

OCs: All those characters of mine are in the trash bin right now. But I will be keeping the character very essential to plot development and a character's development.

Timeline: As we all know the four worlds of Digimon have never connected in the show, though been somewhat influenced by each other. So they live in separate timelines. To make things easy on you...

Adventure 02: Almost exactly four years since the defeat of MaloMyotismon: mid/late winter (dry period)

Tamers: Five years since the defeat of the D-Reaper: early summer/late spring (heat wave)

Frontier: Over five years since returning from the Digital World: late August

Savers/Data Squad: Just over two years since the Digimon were sent to the Digital World: springtime

If you do some math, which I hope you do because I will not do it for you, you will find that this puts a large group of the DigiDestined at age sixteen.

You might wonder why I mixed up the numbers like that, its because they live in alternate dimensions and timelines! If you pay attention to the series, you will notice that in some, less time passes in the Digital World than Earth, no time passes on Earth and you could spend a lifetime in the Digital World, or they have a very close timeline meaning the time spent in one world is the same time in another.

Now then, other than that I dearly hope you enjoy my new version of Digital Crisis and that I see you again when the first chapter's posted!

Because of how long the chapters are, I will post the disclaimer here.

EDIT: I messed up the timeline a bit. I just looked up the ages for the Frontier kids. To get the desired ages, I had to tweak it a bit. And also, as you can see, I added seasons to give you guys an idea when this is happening.

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**Disclaimer: I claim no rights whatsoever to Digimon or any of its varying seasons as it is the sole property of Toei Animation. I own only this fanfiction plot and the non-Digimon universe characters I produced for the sake of it. Thank you.**


	2. Chapter One: Thoughts

Digital Crisis

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-Chapter One-  
Thoughts

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_"We were a silent,  
hidden thought in the folds of oblivion,  
and we have become a voice that causes the heavens to tremble."_

- Kahlil Gibran (1883 - 1931)

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_/To: Re-Destined  
/From: Child of Light  
/Subject: Re: Visions  
/Message: How did you know that I haven't had these dreams after five years? Who are you exactly? I know that you're one of us, but it's like I don't know you at all. Could you tell me why that is?_

She sent the message with a click of her finger just as the images pulsed through her head. Kari gripped the side of her face with her left hand and hissed in pain. Her newly clipped nails painted white scratched her cheek, drawing blood. She cursed under her breath and clamped onto her wrist with her other hand. The teenage girl reached over to an open first aid kit and quickly put pressure on the cut before preceding to cover it up with an adhesive bandage.

**Yagami Hikari (Kari Kamiya): Age 16: Grade 10: DigiDestined: Bearer of the Crest of Light and Digi-Egg of Light: Partner to Gatomon**

"It's the third time this week, isn't it Kari?" a voice said from the doorway.

**Takaishi Takeru (T.K. Takaishi): Age 16: Grade 10: DigiDestined: Bearer of the Crest of Hope and Digi-Egg of Hope: Partner to Patamon**

"It's getting worse TK. This guy keeps telling me that they won't stop until what the girl in the dreams asked me to do is done..."

The blond walked up to her, bending down to her eye level.

"Just who have you been talking to that put stuff like that in your head?" he asked, then noticed the e-mail page on her computer, noticing the name Red Destined in the Sender column of several e-mails, dated to about five days ago.

"Re-Destined..."

He turned back toward Kari.

"Is this guy supposed to be one of us?"

"Yeah... at least I think he is. I met him in a private chatroom and from what he's been telling me, he sounds like the real deal."

She pulled up two pictures. One was of a strange looking digi-vice and another of a few young kids and their Digimon, about the age that Kari and TK were four years ago.

"Those Digimon look strange, but then again we've already seen more than our fair share of weird stuff, huh TK?"

However, TK was focused on the group picture rather than her. He pointed to one of the kids in the picture.

"Look at that, Kari."

"I know... do you think there's new DigiDestined that are going to replace us?"

"I dunno. But one thing is for sure: there's one more DigiDestined kid in the world that happens to wear goggles..."

His hand fell away and he looked back to her with his blue eyes.

"Hey, Yolei called. She's says they're getting the rest of the stuff ready and that the party will start soon. So she wanted me to come over and get you..."

A small noise emitted from the computer. Kari moved the mouse and clicked on the e-mail, opening it up. And once she finished reading, she felt like she was going to throw up her lunch.

_/To: Child of Light  
/From: Re-Destined  
/Subject: My Response...  
__/Message: We are __Digi__ Destined alike, Kari __Kamiya__. The difference between us is that __digimon__ of the Digital World know that you have this unusual connection to other worlds. One of them just happened to use that to get help.  
_

_As for who I am, I'm not so sure anymore. It's been five years since my friends and I have battled against the threat of evil against Earth and the Digital World. Five years since they have lost contact with their D__igimon__ friends. Here I am going back and forth between the worlds, not telling them of another way to see their friends. And I have been singled out, cursed to bear this secret from my own teammates. It's a horrible thing, and ate away at me until I couldn't find a reason for doing something 'just for the fun of it', couldn't find much of a reason to smile anymore._

_Maybe that's why I am and am not a __Digi__Destined at the same time. I have made an inseparable bond with my Digimon partner, watched him grow with me, play with me, eat with me, everything you did with your Digimon, and anything any DigiDestined born to save a world was going to do whether they wanted to or not, whether or not they got hurt in the process. But at the same time I hid a secret too important to be kept._

_So of course you wouldn't know me._

_Do you really know someone that turned his back on his friends?_

She looked back at TK, eyes wide with fear. The girl backed away from the computer as TK began to dial his phone, keeping Kari at his side. They walked out the door in a hurry, shutting it behind them. Kari nervously locked it shut with her house key before the blond pulled her away, glancing around nervously. Finally the phone was picked up on the other end.

"Hello? TK, is that you?"

"Izzy, we have a problem."

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"You're saying that another DigiDestined is sending messages from a whole other world?" Yolei asked with very audible intrigue as she leaned in towards Kari. The brunette nodded before pushing her purple haired friend away from her personal bubble. She was more concerned that the girl was still going to try and whack her upside the head for 'ruining' the anniversary party she and Izzy very professionally coordinated.

**Inoue Miyako (Yolei Inoue): Age 16: Grade 10: DigiDestined: Bearer of the Digi-Eggs of Love and Sincerity: Partner to Hawkmon**

"There are plenty of other worlds other than Earth, the Digital World, and the Dark World, so some of them could be filled with DigiDestined too," Ken offered as an explanation.

**Ichijouji Ken: Age 16: Grade 10: DigiDestined: Bearer of the Crest of Kindness: Partner to Wormmon**

"Yeah, but that doesn't explain how an e-mail could travel all the way from a whole other world now does it?" Joe reminded them. He turned to Izzy currently typing away on his computer. "Hey Izzy, how are you doing with that program you're trying to set up?"

**Kido Jou (Joe Kido): Age 19: College: DigiDestined: Bearer of the Crest of Reliability: Partner to Gomamon**

"Nothing unusual so far," he quickly responded, in the middle of another line of code.

**I****zumi Koushirou (Izzy Izumi): Age 17: Grade 11: DigiDestined: Bearer of the Crest of Knowledge: Partner to Tentomon**

As the DigiDestined were going over how to handle the next message Kari would have to send, the Digimon were having a mid-afternoon snack, while at the same time talking about something equally important to what their human partners were talking about.

"So what if there are other DigiDestined, Gatomon? That probably means they're on our side," Agumon piped up from his juice box.

"That's right. The DigiDestined are chosen to protect the Digital World and the Human World just like Sora and the others do with our help!" Biyomon said, fluttering in the air as she dropped the bowl of rice she had been given.

"But what about the DigiDestined kid that sent that e-mail to Kari? _Do you really know someone that turned his back on his friends..__. _We all know that our partners don't do things like that. No DigiDestined does," she retorted with squinted eyes.

"That's probably why he's from another world. Maybe the DigiDestined and their digimon there went through completely different stuff than what we went through with our partners," Palmon offered.

"Come on guys," Davis said, walking up to them. "He saved the Digital World and Earth with his digimon and his friends. He even admitted to being a DigiDestined. What's there to doubt if he's one of us?"

**Motomiya Daisuke (Davis Motomiya): Age 16: Grade 10: DigiDestined: Bearer of the Digi-Eggs of Courage, Friendship, and Miracles: Partner to Veemon**

"Davis, didn't you read the message? He's not one of us. He said he turned his back on his friends. Kept secrets he never should have. That doesn't sound like a DigiDestined that teamed up with his friends to save the Digital World," TK informed him after a very noticeable scoff.

"You know you sound a lot like you did about four and a half years ago when you guys all doubted Ken. And you know what, TK? He turned out to be a great guy!" Davis began to shout, angrily striding towards TK.

"I didn't mean it like that," the blond retorted, standing up to look Davis in the eye.

"Well then, what did you mean!"

"That we can't trust this guy!"

"And how do you know that!"

"Okay time out," Sora shouted above them, yanking them apart and sitting them back down in their seats. "Guys, this isn't helping. Now then, Davis, why don't we let TK go first and tell us why he thinks we can't trust this person that contacted Kari?"

**Takenouchi Sora: Age 18: Grade 12: DigiDestined: Bearer of the Crest of Love: Partner to Biyomon**

The mahogany hair colored DigiDestined nodded, crossing his arms and firmly staring at the blond opposite him.

"Go ahead, TK," she said more calmly.

"I just don't see how this guy could call himself a DigiDestined and then go on to say that he acted so distrustfully to his friends, the people he saved the Digital World and Earth with. As the DigiDestined we're supposed to work together and trust each other. And so far I'm not seeing any evidence that this Re-Destined guy ever did..."

Sora turned to Davis, motioning for him to start his part of the argument.

"We all agree that this guy might be from another world. The message said that he saved the Digital World with his friends, and we all know there's no I in team. There had to have been trust or otherwise he wouldn't be saying that the Digital World and the Earth he lives in were saved. One guy can't save two worlds on his own, you know."

"But at the same time, if he really did trust his friends, why didn't he show any trust by telling them that there was a way they could be with their Digimon again," TK interrupted.

"Because he had no choice," Davis replied, shutting the blond up for a minute. "He said it himself. Keeping that secret tore him up inside, so it's no wonder he's putting himself down for it. But he must have had a good reason for not telling his friend something like that for five whole years."

"As much fun as it is to watch you guys debate," said Matt with a slight hint of sarcasm in his voice, "we should probably figure out who this guy is, where he's from, and why he's sending us these messages."

**Ishida Yamato (Matt Ishida): Age 18: Grade 12: DigiDestined: Bearer of the Crest of Friendship: Partner to Gabumon**

"Yeah, what if he's some psycho from the future with a heavy accent and a tendency to rip little girls to shreds with gardening tools," Mimi squealed as lightning struck behind her in the window.

**Tachikawa Mimi: Age 17: Grade 11: DigiDestined: Bearer of the Crest of Sincerity: Partner to Palmon**

"I think it's safe to assume that some random guy isn't going to come crashing through the window with a chainsaw," Tai replied to her comment, turning his head as he sat next to the computer.

**Yagami Taichi (Tai Kamiya): Age 18: Grade 12: DigiDestined: Bearer of the Crest of Courage: Partner to Agumon**

"But Matt's right. Before we do anything else we should at least try to find out who this 'DigiDestined' is first..."

**Iori Hida (Cody Hida): Age 13: Grade 7: DigiDestined: Bearer of the Digi-Eggs of Knowledge and Reliability: Partner to Armadillomon**

"I'm working on it right now," Izzy said from across the room. "I've been trying to hone in on the signal used to create the connection that was used to send the message to Kari, and I think I've almost tapped into it. With any luck, I'll be able to pinpoint exactly where the sender of these messages is if I cross-reference that with the communications systems of Earth and the Digital World. If nothing comes up, then we'll probably be able to believe this person was telling the truth if they said they weren't from our world..."

An irritating beeping noise erupted from the computer as Izzy tried to trace the signal. Heads whirled as the screen filled up with white and red text appeared as if it were slowly being typed.

**You're pretty smart for someone from this Earth. But now you've gone and made me have to come over here and stop you. Sorry, but I don't exactly like people who try to hack into my world's network.**

"Do you think it's the guys that's been talking to Kari?" Tai asked Izzy in a hushed tone.

"I can hear you, you know. I'm not deaf..."

Their breaths caught in their throats as those words, leading them to turn all around until they eventually saw the teeange, brown haired young man leaning against a door frame, glaring at them with the more visible one of his two red eyes. He was dressed for combat as it seems, given the gun holster slightly sticking out of the left side of his long, black leather coat.

"And who might you be?"

The brunette turned his whole body towards them, and began to approach with quiet steps.

"I am Matusda Takato but can also be known as Takato Matsuki: Age 16: Grade 10: Digimon Tamer and partner to Guilmon. I possess the Golden D-Ark, or D-Power if you prefer, and temporarily the Hazard D-Ark. As I hear, these are quite similar to what the DigiDestined from this world call a digivice due to their like functions by giving a partner digimon access to energy that can be used to digivolve quicker. Is this correct?"

"Yeah, but, how do you know so much about us already?" TK asked as he stepped in front of Kari, slightly bewildered at how the kid just as old as him talked.

"Where I come from, Digimon has become a card game based on the digimon created by the Monster Makers. I was a player myself until I realized it wasn't just a game, that digimon were in fact real. The day I became partners with Guilmon, I became a Digimon Tamer and shortly afterwards became involved with the Digimon Sovereigns. It was in the Digital World that me and seven other Tamers soon discovered that the D-Reaper began to grow out of control and swallow up anything in its path."

"The D-Reaper?" they asked aloud.

"Yes. Think of it as a sort of gardener for the Digital World. With the Digimon constantly evolving to greater and greater levels, the D-Reaper was originally there to make sure that they are deleted for 'growing outside their parameters' or something like that..."

"So why was it a threat?"

"It began to learn from the data it absorbed and slowly evolved. Using one of my friends it found its way to Earth while the rest of it was stuck in the Digital World. Within a matter of weeks it managed to become nearly unstoppable. Thankfully myself and three other of the more powerful Tamers used our Mega forms to get inside the D-Reaper and suck it back into the Digital World where it returned to its original size. There have been no signs of increased D-Reaper activity since then."

"You said something happened to the Digimon in one of your messages," Kari began, stepping out in front of TK to look at him. "What did you mean?"

"After defeating the D-Reaper and sending it to the Digital World, unfortunately our Digimon partners had to return as well. It was the price we had to pay in order to save both worlds from complete deletion at the hands of the D-Reaper," Takato said, looking down with closed eyes and a solemn face.

"But didn't you find an open gate?"

"Yes, I did. It was the one Guilmon dug up in the park where I had to hide him," he said looking up. "I found it a few weeks or so after the other gate shut."

"Now to what Davis and I were arguing over. You were aware the gate was open and didn't tell your friends for five years? Why?" TK asked, noticeable misunderstanding laced beneath his questioning voice.

"I told Jeri first, because I knew I had to tell someone just to get it off my chest. But because I wasn't sure what was on the other side, I told her to keep the gate secret until I returned, and if I never did to make sure the others never go near the gate. I went through to make sure it was safe, but that wasn't all that I discovered. When I saw the state the Digital World had fallen into, I made my way to the highest plane to speak with the Digimon Sovereign."

"A plane?" Izzy asked. "The Digital World is made up of continents and bodies of water, similar to Earth."

"In the Digital World from my dimension, it is made up of planes that were created as the Digimon there evolved. And the four Digimon Sovereign live on the highest plane. As soon as I came to where they were meeting, with Guilmon and the other Digimon partners of the Tamers along for the ride, I asked to help them repair the Digital World after the damage the D-Reaper caused..."

"And they let you..." Davis stated rather than asked.

Takato nodded.

"Under one condition..."

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_"Digimon Tamer Takato, we have agreed to allow you to travel between this world and the world of the humans but with one exception," Azulongmon boomed, turning away from the other three Digimon Sovereign he just spoke with._

_"Okay. What is it?"_

_"You must never speak of the open gate to the Digital World to other humans," Zhuqiaomon hissed as he turned to the brunette._

_"Why not?" he replied, though somewhat nervous of the bird snapping at him._

_"You __Digimon__ Tamers have already lost much in defending a world not even your own. And for that we are grateful," the first of __Ebonwumon's__ heads spoke, the second continuing. "But because of the state of the Digital World and the great amount of time that will be spent repairing it, we cannot risk something happening to so many of the humans that we are indebted to..."_

_"We're sorry if this seems unfair to only allow you to be here, and putting you at risk," __Baihumon__ apologized._

_"It's fine," Takato began. "I'll help you. And I won't tell the others," he said somewhat reluctantly._

_"What?!" Terriermon and Renamon shrieked._

_"Takato," Guilmon whined._

_"I'm sorry guys, but let's face it," the eleven year old began to explain. "As much as I want to do this with my friend, and as much as I don't want to get hurt, the Digital World can't fix itself. You need all the help you can get. And... I don't want Jeri and the others to get hurt because of it. They're my friends, and as much as it'll kill me to keep this from them, it's the only way to help you guys without everyone else being..."_

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"Being..." the present Takato whispered. "I never wanted to finish that sentence... It's been five years now since then... Five horrible years I chose to endure," he said slightly louder, gripping his arms with trembling hands as the memories of that time span slowly came back to him.

"Was it worth it?" Tai wondered.

"That's the same question I keep asking myself every time I have to lie to my friends in order to keep my secret safe... Was it worth it? Then I remind myself that I'd never be able to put them where I am now..."

Yolei and Kari noticed his nails digging into the leather on the sleeves of his coat. The purple haired of the two was the one who did something about it.

"Hey, could I see that jacket for a bit?" she asked.

He stared at her quietly for a moment, then spoke in that same solemn voice before he told the story.

"So you noticed. I might as well..."

He undid the buckles at the front and put his arms at his sides, causing the jacket to drop to his feet. There were gasps of horror as soon as the red stained bandages came into plain view. They were littered all over his arms, some parts of the fabric hanging out, allowing a fairly large scar to poke out from underneath the off-white wrapping. When Yolei drew near to one of the cuts on the back of his wrist, he snapped. Takato slapped her hand away and leaped backwards, his mouth curled into a snarl.

"Hey, what's your problem, pal?!"

"What's yours, huh?! Do you want to get infected?!" he yelled.

"Infected?" Ken repeated.

"Something from the Digital world has contaminated my blood stream. No regular human has any chance of being able to endure the pain it causes. Thankfully the way I've trained myself within the last year away from my world made it a little more bearable..." He paused for a moment, laughing to himself. "Just great. It's been a year and I still can't stop doing that. I'm sorry if some of you don't understand me that well..."

"It is sort of making me dizzy, the way you talk..." Mimi said rather truthfully. But then she added quickly, "Oh but, there's nothing wrong with it! It's great that there's another brainiac besides Izzy and Ken that's a DigiDestined!"

"Sorry, but I'm really not that smart," he admitted. "I only started talking like that because my eye was acting up again. When I get angry or confused because of something, even really nervous or scared, it's harder to control the energy inside of me. It's fine now that I've calmed down, but I think it's fair to warn you I don't like it when people get near me like that... I keep forgetting my own strength."

He picked the jacket up off the floor, sliding it back onto his arms, then re-buckling the belts that kept it firm on his torso.

"I should probably tell you all why I'm really here... No, it's not because your friend Izzy over there tried to get into the network from my world. Actually, there's something serious you should all know, and it's exactly what I came here to talk to you about."

Once finishing his buckling, he looked up at the twelve and they at him.

"The barrier between the four dimensions is beginning to collapse. Up until now, it kept my world, yours and two others away from each. That way the Digital Worlds in each of them wouldn't overlap. But ever since that other world started getting closer and closer to the four I just talked about, the invisible wall that kept them away started to vanish, and no one in my world knows why."

"There are four Earths?" Sora asked him.

"Yeah. This first one, where Earth and the Digital World can exist together without any problems and has for four years. This is the world of the first DigiDestined. The second one, my world, where because of the Digital World, Earth was almost destroyed, but because of the Digimon Tamers that act like DigiDestined, the connection between the worlds "doesn't exist" for everyone's safety. The third world is very different. In that place, the Digital World goes on existing as no time passes in the Earth so close to it. The DigiDestined there... there were only six, and they had to become Digimon themselves in order to exterminate the evil that nearly destroyed the Digital World for good and took over Earth..."

"Became digimon?" Joe interrupted.

He nodded.

"How's that possible?" Matt asked, now very interested in what the teen was saying.

"They used the spirits of the Ten Legendary Warriors, the ten Digimon that defeated Lucemon and locked him in the center of that Digital World..."

Takato turned to Kari.

"Actually, the one that sent for them was Ophanimon, a Mega form of sorts of Gatomon. When she was reborn she appeared as Salamon, Gatomon's rookie form."

"Alright, so what about the fourth world? You only mentioned three so far," Tai reminded him.

"The fourth one was very different. Many years before the "DigiDestined" there ever knew about Digimon, humans entered the Digital World. But because of what they did there, by killing off all Digimon they could find, the Digital World was filled with hate and later on its "king" Drasil tried to destroy Earth. Thanks to four humans from the Digimon Data Squad, or rather the Digimon Advance Tactis Squad, that stopped him with their Digimon partners, the balance was restored, and Earth and the Digital World never ran into each other. But as a price, like in my world, all Digimon there had to return to the Digital World, along with one stubborn non-goggle head..."

He stopped.

"But going back to my point. Because of the barrier that's falling apart, me and six other people are supposed to tell all the DigiDestined of each world about it. Two from each world that have grown very in touch with the Digital World. I'm in your world because the two DigiDestined that were supposed to tell you were not conscious at the time the information was given to them. I have no idea who they are, and it's my job to find out just that. But I was told that there were only twelve DigiDestined from this world that could be those two."

"How are you gonna figure that out?" Davis wondered. "You're not gonna put us in some weird machine or shove needles in our arms are you?!"

"No, no, nothing like that! Don't be silly!" Takato answered hysterically, with a lopsided grin and twitching eye. "But it is going to take some time in order for me to figure out which two of you have the Eyes of Thought..."

"Eyes of... Thought?" Cody repeated.

Takato nodded.

"The Left and Right Eye of Thoughts actually. One person has the Left Eye, and another the Right Eye. It's the same with the other worlds too. I have the Left Eye of Hearts from my world and I've met someone with an Eye from the two other worlds. So, like I said, I'm here to figure out which of you has an Eye. That way this world will have a better chance."

"So how would you find these Eyes?" Davis now asked, relaxed that there would be no needles.

"There's three ways that we can be sure. First of all, these two were DigiDestined that had a completely necessary effect on this world and its companion Digital World. Which means that without them doing something, there would have been no hope of either world surviving, you all would probably be dead right now, yada, yada, yada..."

They looked around at each other, confused. They all contributed greatly to saving the Digital World. Which meant he wasn't being very specific.

"I think we're going to have to do it another way," Yolei said out of the blue.

"Okay... Do any of you have weird eye colors?"

When silence answered him, he groaned.

"Alright then. I didn't want to, but I guess I have no choice..."

A red glow emitted his right eye. He scanned across the room slowly, but when his eyes came upon a large mass of blinding white energy, his eyes became wide, pupils pinpricks, and he screamed.

"Hit the floor!"

With a crack and a crinkling noise from the windows, the glass shattered, the DigiDestined connecting their bodies with the floor just in time. Takato leaped into the air, dodging a deadly barrage of glass shards aiming for him. He quickly landed on the ground, overturning a table of papers for protection, TK, Izzy, and Joe doing the same for the others near them.

"Dammit! Those things found us!" he swore.

"What things?" Yolei shouted before trowing her arms over her head. Once flinching, she yelled even louder over the new sounds of lasers firing at the room and all around them. "What's attacking us?"

"Drones from the world disrupting the field. They're attacking because whoever sent them is either trying to kill me, or all of you. Because they know that two of you have the Eyes from this dimension."

"So, do something! You're the one that sounds like you've fought with these things before," TK shouted from the table next to them.

"Fought and beaten mercilessly. But that's not the point. Those are just stun lasers every drone is equipped with. If they hit you, you just can't move most of your body. The thing is, it doesn't work on you if you've got an Eye. I'm not so sure why that is exactly, but I'm not complaining."

Meanwhile, Ken glanced around the edge of the table, seeing one of the drones Takato was talking about at the moment. It was white, deformed around the arms and legs, with no facial features. The lasers shot out from what could have been called its fingers if not for the way they undulated as they opened at the ends, allowing the yellow lasers to come through. But as it turned its head and fired towards him, he pulled his head back around the table as laser fire pelted into the ground just left of him.

"We have to get out of here!"

"How do we do that? We're pinned down!" Kari yelled next to him.

_"I need a distraction... something that'll let the others get to safety..."_

"Huh?"

Kari looked up, the sounds all around her zoning out. She could hear Davis's voice echoing through her mind. The girl turned towards him next to her, watching as he growled, angry at the creatures attacking them, lasers falling all around him.

_"I can't let them get hurt..."_

_"Davis..."_

_"Kari?"_

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They were in a white room, a strange, foreign light shining on them from nowhere. Their three Crest symbols fluttered around them. Their friends were frozen, like statues, unmoving, their color completely drained from their bodies. The Digimon and the creatures were exactly the same. It was as if time had stopped for them. Finally they looked at each other, near speechless.

"What's going on?"

Davis looked around, seeing the state of everything in the room.

"How did this happen?"

"I don't know... we heard each other, and now we're here..."

They were silent for a few moments.

"You're not alone, Davis. You want everyone to be safe, but please don't hurt yourself. We're all in this together, good times and bad. Don't tell me you've forgotten that...?"

"I haven't... but I'd never put up with you, TK, your brother, and everyone else getting hurt instead of me..."

"But we'd never let you do something like that!"

He pounded his fist against the wood of the table, splintering it.

"It's not fair! There has to be another way!"

And suddenly it was very warm. Kari could feel it, and almost hear the crackling and popping of a roaring fire somewhere in this white space. She looked around, but found none. Yet it was as if it was all around her, like she was on fire. She was almost scared of bursting into flames right then and there, but when looking down, she discovered not a single burn or redness where it shouldn't be on her skin. Her heart seemed to flutter to the warmth in fact.

"Why's it so cold... and bright...?"

"But... it's hot, isn't it? It feels like my heart's going to explode..." she said as soon as she heard Davis beginning to shiver.

"Something's wrong. There's no way it's this cold in here..." he replied, knees shaking, teeth barely clacking together. He rubbed his arms with his hands furiously, trying to warm himself up. It was so cold, yet he couldn't see his breath. Anymore and he knew he could give in to hypothermia. And he clamped his eyes shut so the light couldn't blind him "Why's it so bright in here? Where's this light coming... from...?"

"Davis!" she barely shrieked as his legs finally gave out, his body crumpling to the floor. She knelt down next to him, shaking his shoulders. "Please get up! Don't die on me now! Here!"

And at that moment it was as if the heat was gone. She was cooling off, but could it have been from her contact with him? Kari lightly gasped as Davis turned his body carefully so their eyes would meet. As his fingers touched hers, she could feel him warming up. It must have been because of her, right?

"I remember..."

And another light consumed them.

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For a moment she saw a park.

A swing set.

Two kids.

One boy and one girl.

"Hi. My name's Kari! What's yours?"

A warm smile, wild hair, kind eyes.

No words.

Just laughter.

Then one of his eyes became white.

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"We could throw a rock or something. Maybe it'll knock one of them out," Yolei weakly suggested, given a cold stare from Cody.

"What?! I was just kidding! And at least I'm thinking of something remotely a plan!"

"We need to Digivolve!" Upamon urged his partner. "With my heavy armor, I'll have no problem swinging my club tail for a home run!"

He yelped as a laser almost grazed the top of his head. The Digimon whimpered, launching himself into the arms of the young DigiDestined. Patamon shook his head disapprovingly and turned to TK.

"What do you think TK?" he barely shouted. "We need to do something!"

"Don't look at me! I'm busy trying not to get blasted here!"

"...sit down!"

TK just caught Tai yelling at someone.

"That's a very bad idea!"

Joe too.

"Davis, are you trying to get yourself killed?"

He whirled his head to see Davis standing up, lasers coming into contact with his body. Ken was growling for him to get down before the creatures could fire something besides stun lasers. But he and the blond were both surprised when Kari pulled his arm away, staring with a white right eye and a face devoid of all emotion. On Davis's face was plastered the same expression, only he had a white left eye.

"Don't. He must..."

"Protect," Davis finished. "Do not interfere..."

"Ken Ichijouji."

Ken and TK were utterly baffled at how Kari and Davis knew what the other was going to say next, as if they could read each others thoughts. The girl released the teen's grip and nodded her head at Davis, who nodded right back. A blue symbol of sorts, a cross between the Crest of Light and Crest of Courage, appeared in their white eyes.

"Hey, they've stopped firing," Sora observed.

"Does that mean we've won?" Mimi wondered, slowly taking her hands off her head.

"Not yet," Takato spoke up. A sly grin was plastered across his face. "It looks like Kari and Davis have other plans in mind. I guess they were the ones that got the Eyes of Thoughts after all..."

One of the creatures hissed, another making a low, growling sound that was slurred. Where the mouth was, a tear appeared, and strands of the same substance that made up the being held the tear together. It roared, an otherworldly sound escaping the dark hole behind the strands. It then lashed out, Davis vanishing in an instant. But then the teen appeared right in front the monster, body spinning in a clockwise direction before his foot connected with the creature's head.

It shrieked in pain, falling towards the ground with a large thud. The second of the two angrily hissed at Davis, attempting to fire, but was sent to the ground in the same manner. The boy grabbed at its neck, positioning himself to use the body to cushion the fall. As the others made way for the staircase, they barely took notice as Kari dove out the broken windows and after Davis.

"Kari!" TK called after her.

"No time, little brother. We have to go help Davis!" Matt said.

"But Kari-"

"Trust me, she'll be fine. You know her. She's tough. Now come on. We don't want to fall behind do we?" Yolei said, managing to convince the blond to stop staring after the girl.

Meanwhile, Kari had flipped in the air, landing softly on her feet on the other of the two creatures. She leaped off, as did Davis, the two monsters getting up on their twisted, rather shaking limbs. Their mouths ripped open to hiss. Davis turned around as Veemon and Gatomon approached, the others close behind, for a moment regaining the smile he had from before.

"Veemon, ready to Armor Digivolve?"

"Gatomon?" Kari said, turning also. "What do you say we give them a hand?"

"But Davis!"

"Kari, we can't! We don't have the Digivices!"

"That's right," Izzy said as the rest caught up, Digimon in tow. "None of us do."

"The difference between you regular DigiDestined and the ones bearing Eyes is that we can initiate a Digivolution without a Digivice," Takato explained. "The unique relation between ourselves and the flow of digital matter between the Digital World and Earth allows for us to initiate the process at our own will. It's quite useful if I do say so myself..."

"Would you mind if we showed them?" Kari asked, lips forming a small smirk.

"Please do," he said. "Now then, what do you guys say we give them some space. Say... twenty feet at the least?"

The eleven humans and ten Digimon retreated to the gate nearby the school's yard. The creatures turned their heads and almost went after them, when Kari whistled to get their attention. She turned to Davis and nodded, urging him to first. He nodded back and turned to Veemon at his side.

"Ready, pal?"

"You bet!"

"Digi-Armor Energize!"

Davis's white eye suddenly turned a bright, glowing orange and the symbol of the Crest of Courage appeared around him, expanding from the spot he stood. Veemon glowed a bright orange too as the symbol went past his feet. In a brilliant flash of orange light, Veemon was soon gone, replaced by Flamedramon. The Digimon turned towards Gatomon and Kari, waiting for them to finish too.

"Digi-Armor Energize!"

She threw an arm up, Kari's discolored eye turned a solid pink, and similar to Davis, the symbol of the Crest of Light appeared on the ground, consuming Gatomon with its glow. In a pink flash Nefertimon stood next to her before she flew up, lightly hovering above them.

"Go!"

The creatures roared, firing red lasers at them.

"Scatter!" Davis yelled, and in a moment the four cleared out, barely dodging the fire. They continued to run when the creatures pushed off on their back legs and tried to land on the two humans. But Kari and Davis were took quick as they veered in a ninety degree turn, causing them to crash into school property. One managed to recover from landing into a chain link fence to lash out at Kari, who tactfully dodged with a backwards flip.

"Rosetta Stone!"

The stone collided with the creature's head, a roar of pain shortly following. It collapsed, unable to support its weight anymore. It hit the ground with a sickening crack its form rupturing, as it soon exploded into data.

Takato widened his eyes as the other creature turned its head to where its comrade fell.

"Stop that thing!"

But the other drone then jumped into the stream, absorbing the energy. This one then stood on its hind legs as it began to grow to a larger size, at least three times the size as before, now rising about thirty feet tall, spikes sprouting from where its spine would have been. Two red, bestial, eyes opened, black pupils looking at the four before it. Its mouth opened in the same manner as before, allowing it to let out an ear piercing, glass breaking shriek as its fingers developed into sharp blades and a blood red orb appeared in the center of its chest.

"Davis! Kari! Get out of there! That thing's too dangerous!" the brunette shrieked.

"What, isn't it still a drone?" Joe asked him, rather confused as to what was going on.

"Worse. It absorbed the data from its little friend and used it to get to a higher level. Instead of a drone, its almost agent level, the second highest level for these damned things... I have to kill it!"

"Wait, did you just say you were going to kill that thing? Isn't it made of data?" Ken asked the boy next to him, but received no answer.

Davis and Kari retreated as he said, Veemon and Gatomon soon reappearing in the same colored flashes as the ones that allowed them to Armor Digivolve. The orange faded from Davis's left eye, as the pink did from Kari's right one. Takato leaped up between them and out of nowhere extracted two sharp blades. He twirled them in his hands, and slashed at the monster's legs, in front and back, bursts of digital matter leaking out where the damage was done. It fell to its knees immediately, just as Takato slashed where the arm joints were on both sides of its torso.

Kari had turned to face where the monster was, just in time seeing the creature's arms falling from its body and materializing into data. She got a sickening feeling in her gut, realizing that the teen had just cut off the thing's arms as if it were nothing at all.

"Sick," she heard TK growl under his breath.

Then Takato attacked the orb, the blades flipping in the air, attaching together to form a long metallic staff. He gripped it with both hands, biting his lip as the monster fell backwards, creating a shallow impression in the concrete surface, cracks running along the ground to its body. With a loud yell, he pierced the red sphere, red data spurting out like blood.

It was almost as bad as watching this happen to a human, Sora mused, feeling the urge to throw up.

"You parasite!" a warped voice erupted from the being. "You humans will not be victorious! We will rip those Eyes out of you measly mongrels if we have to!"

"Go ahead and try!"

And with a final pained scream the monster lay there, slowly materializing into the data like its kin had. But Takato pulled something out of it, hissing as he did so. Before the creature was completely gone, however, he removed something from where the orb was and got away before the data almost took him with it. He landed next to the others, who wore faces of disgust and horror, unable to believe a DigiDestined, a human, just did something that horrendous.

But before any of them had the chance to say anything, the young man opened his palm to reveal an eye patch.

"An... eye patch? What good's that?" Mimi asked him, unable to understand, like the others, but more so, why an eye patch would be worth exterminating anything digital in that manner.

He quietly revealed the venom green eye hiding behind his bangs. He slipped the black eye patch over it rather casually, adjusting it slightly.

"When I said I was contaminated, I meant it. My Eye is supposed to be red, like my right eye is. In battling one of those things I was careless and got myself infected. It stole my patch too, so there was nothing I could do to keep it from being damaged anymore. Thankfully now that I have it back, I can get it to return to its normal hue..."

"So what now? Now that that thing is gone, can you tell us how to fix us?" Kari spoke up.

"Yeah, my eye won't go back to its color," Davis piped up, pointing to the still white orb of his.

"I'm afraid that your eyes won't return to normal color within at least an hour. Until then keep these over them, and you should be fine," he said, handing them both two white eye patches. Once they took them from him, he added. "But once you've learned how to better control your powers, you should be able to get your eyes to change out for your Eyes easily."

"So is that it? Are you done here?" Cody wondered, curious if the older boy was just going to leave now that the monster was gone and Kari and Davis had discovered their Eyes.

"For now. But I suggest you keep your Digivices with you at all times, and partners too. Chances are that's not going to be the last time those things show up to attack you. Protect the Eyes at all costs. Without them, your world stands no chance. Kari, Davis, learn to control your powers. It will be best for everyone. You can trust me on that one."

He walked away, no one daring to follow.

"Alright then Alice," Takato muttered, as if talking to someone.

"I'm heading there right now. My friends... It's been five whole years. It's about time I stopped lying."

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End Chapter

* * *

OOC bad-ass Takato? Hell yeah, and I'm not changing it.

By the way...

I'm not bother with descriptions this time... So I'll be doing concept art and posting links for it in my profile. Just be patient and wait until I get the time (or nerve) to bother with it.

Oh, and congratulations.

If you're reading this, you must really be patient with me...

So I send you Internet cookies and milk.

* * *

Next Chapter:

Hearts


	3. Chapter Two: Hearts

Digital Crisis

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-Chapter Two-  
Hearts

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"To the soul, there is hardly anything more healing than friendship."

-Thomas Moore (1779 - 1852)

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_"Alice," Azulongmon began. "We are aware that you are familiar with the human city known as Shinjuku?"_

**Alice McCoy: Age 16: Companion to Dobermon**

_"Yes, that it correct," the girl nodded._

_"Then you wouldn't mind having a word with the friends of the other human, Takato?" Zhuqiaomon asked her._

_"Is there something the matter?" she replied._

_"The poor lad's been awful down since we had him keep that promise," Ebonwumon's second head spoke up, its other head continuing. "Its been five years or so hasn't it? No wonder he doesn't smile so much, with something like that in his head... must be awful."_

_"What do you want me to do?" she asked, slowly beginning to get a grasp on what they were saying._

_"We've already had a word with Takato, and he agrees that it's finally time to tell the other Digimon Tamers about the gate between our world and yours," Baihumon continued. "He's left for another part of the Digital World on urgent business, but he says that he'll be arriving in the human world in exactly a week..."_

_"I take it you want me to spend that week traveling towards the gate? But I'm afraid I don't know where it is. Takato has refused to tell me, and I'm not exactly sure why."_

_"Which is the reason why we've managed to get you an escort. You've heard of Ryo Akiyama, I hope?" the dragon digimon spoke once more, lightly shifting his head to a spot behind Alice._

_"Yes. He's known as the Legendary Tamer and Digimon King. I've heard of him twice from Takato when he has brought up his friends a few times. I'm afraid I've never actually seen him in person, though I believe he was Bio-Merged with Cyberdramon in the form of Justimon back in the days of the D-Reaper attacks on Earth," she explained._

_"Well I guess today's your lucky day," a rather arrogant voice piped up._

_She turned, rather expressionlessly, and without any indication of surprise, to see a wild haired brunette that had a red neckerchief around one of his wrists next to some metallic device on his arm. The grin widened at his attention, but quickly faded with how the girl neither said anything or moved an inch._

**Akiyama Ryo: Age 19: ****Digimon**** Tamer: "The Legendary Tamer" "****Digimon**** King": Tamer to Cyberdramon**

_"You're Alice?"_

_"Yes. And you're Ryo."_

_"The one and only. What happened to your eye?" he asked, noticing the eye patch._

_"Some other time. We must head towards the gate Takato uses to travel between this world and Earth. I'm afraid that the fate of both worlds may be solely dependent on whether or not we reach it."_

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One Week Later

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"There have been reports of strange creatures roaming around Shinjuku Central Park. Authorities have looked into the group once known as Hypnos for information on the situation, but have been unsuccessful thus far. Chief of Police Hideki Takahashi is currently filing a warrant for Mitsuo Yamaki, who refuses to comment on this matter. In other news..."

"Strange creatures," Rika mocked the anchorman. "It's the summer heat getting to the locals again. Always has been," she commented, switching to another channel.

**Makino Ruki (Rika Nonaka): Age 16: Grade 10: Digimon Tamer: "Digimon Queen": Tamer to Renamon**

"But monsters?" Henry half-asked, half-laughed as he got himself a glass of water.

**Lee Jenrya (Henry Wong): Age 16: Grade 10: Digimon Tamer: Tamer to Terriermon**

"Why not? Remember last time when old lady Manami down the street thought she saw giant bees? That was one year ago. In the heat wave. People are just being loony from the heat, like I said..."

"Rika, everyone knows old lady Manami is crazy. Old people are like that. Anyways, they were talking about it earlier on another channel, too," the teen said, walking over and leaning against the wooden door frame. "Some reporter actually managed to get a picture of what was said to be a monster. Here, I even printed it off the news website. Take a look for yourself..."

He reached over his shoulder and tossed the girl a photo, Rika skillfully catching it like she would a Modify Card. The red head stared at it carefully before tossing it back in his direction.

"It's some bunch of dumb kids pulling a prank. Don't get yourself worked up about it Henry," she said, trying to focus on the screen in front of her.

"The same way you don't get worked up about Ryo suddenly taking off for America last month?" he taunted her, amused at how she blushed a shade of red, angry or embarrassed.

"The jerk didn't call me! He didn't even pick up his damn cellphone until he got off at the airport! What's not to be upset about?" she practically screamed.

"Whoa, where's the fire, girl?" Kazu said, walking in on the middle of her rant.

**Shiota Hirokazu (Kazu Shioda): Age 16: Grade 10: Digimon Tamer: Tamer to Guardromon**

"Oh shut up Kazu," she replied, whipping her hair over her shoulder as she turned away, refusing to meet his gaze.

"What did he do?" Kenta nearly whined as he joined his friend at his side.

**Kitagawa Kenta: Age 16: Grade 10: Digimon Tamer: Tamer to MarineAngemon**

"Why are you two here? Didn't Jeri want you two over at the park to help with the decorations?" Henry wondered.

"She told us to go get you guys," the glasses wearing teen answered immediately.

"You mean she pushed us away as soon as we caught her talking with Takato on the phone," Kazu corrected him.

"Wait Takato?" Rika suddenly asked, showing interest in the conversation suddenly.

"Yep, and she wanted to be left alone while she talked too!" Kazu warned her as she suddenly stormed over to the front door, threw on her shoes and straightened her ponytail.

"I don't care!" she yelled, before slamming the door shut and running off.

"Dammit Kazu! Why'd you have to mention Takato?" Henry said angrily as he slipped on his shoes and ran off, Kazu and Kenta close behind.

"What's the big deal?" Kenta replied, not so sure why Rika had just done what she did.

"Rika's been getting suspicious of Takato and Jeri ever since two years ago, when Takato's little disappearing acts got longer and longer. It was at her birthday party. When she was going to get Takato and Jeri and tell them it was time for cake, she saw Takato taking off through her yard, Jeri agreeing to cover for him while he was gone. Ever since then, she kept telling me and Ryo that she's caught them doing it at least ten times. When she finally decided to confront Takato about it, he had vanished for good."

"And no one knows where to, except Jeri!" Rika called back, having heard Henry word for word, just as she rounded the corner and darted towards the grass and trees.

"Jeri refuses to talk about it to anyone. And now Rika has this theory that she and Takato have been lying about where he really is for all these years."

"Do you think he's like some, I dunno, secret agent? It would explain that black, leather coat thing we last saw him wearing." Kazu dumbly replied.

"I doubt it. But right now, it's the best explanation we have so far. I've tried talking about it with Takato as soon as he started acting strange four years ago, and I've never gotten a single truth out of him," he said in return.

"Why would Takato lie to his friends?" Kenta wondered as they crossed the street and into the park.

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"We can't keep this up, Takato. Rika probably knows and Henry's getting his suspicions," Jeri spoke into the cellphone. "You know they're going to have to know it eventually..."

**Katou Jurii (Jeri Katou): Age 16: Grade 10: Digimon Tamer: Tamer to Leomon**

_"I know,"_ a rather clam voice replied. _"That's why I'm going to tell them. At this point I have no other choice. God, sometimes I just wished that none of this ever had to happen... Keeping the gate a secret is just awful. The Digimon are starting to notice it too. Its tearing me apart..."_

"But you kept the promise to keep me and everyone else safe. Isn't that worth something after all these years?"

_"Heh. Sometimes I wonder..."_

"Quit talking like that Takato," she demanded. "You're a great guy. You protect your friends at the cost of your own life. And what you're doing right now is helping our digimon friends while we can't. Don't worry Takato. But please, do get here soon. I wouldn't want Kazu to eat your share of the cake again..."

They laughed together.

_"Yeah, alright. See you soon Jeri. Love you..."_

"I love you too, Takato..."

_Click._

Click.

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"Your girlfriend?" a pony tailed brunette asked him, a smirk spread across his face as Takato snapped the small phone shut.

**Daimon Masaru (Marcus Damon): Age 16: Grade 11: Member of D.A.T.S. (Disbanned): Partner to Agumon**

"Oh go punch a digimon or something, Marcus," he retorted.

"But seriously man, are you actually going to go over there? Didn't you tell me that that red head chick is pissed at you?"

"Not just pissed. At this point I'd rather lose my Eye than talk to her, but I had it coming..."

"That is what you get for not trusting your friends with a secret," he commented as Takato turned to face him.

"Shouldn't you be getting back to your world?"

"I'm waiting..."

"For what?"

"You shouldn't worry about me, you know. Worry about your friends. Remember that blond girl dressed in black, white, and crosses earlier? The one that's got that I'm-more-superior-than-you-therefore-you-are-trash attitude? The same one that slapped the kid earlier and made him cry?"

"Her name's Alice," he informed him. "And what about her?"

"She said she was going to go there and tell them herself if you didn't show in five minutes..."

"That little bitch," he cursed, running off.

Once leaving, the smile on his face vanished. Both his eyes turned yellow and he glanced up at the sky, leaning back against the tree in that white world. From a distance he could hear the two children laughing on the swing set, the hiss of the growing darkness at the corners of the forest, and the fire growing too. It seemed that a couple more hadn't been awake.

"Two more of 'em huh? I wonder which one will wake up first..."

He pulled out a blindfold, and covered his eyes, as he slowly faded out.

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"Out of my way, little girl," Henry heard Rika say. "You have no clue who you're dealing with."

Henry, Kenta, and Kazu stopped near Rika.

Her path was blocked by a somewhat light blond haired girl with a left blue eye and a black, white laced eye patch over her right. She wore a gothic lolita outfit, black and white, though looking somewhat like a maid's costume due to the white lace apron and its large bow at the back, but less given the celtic cross in the center of her torso. She wore white knee high socks and what seemed to be Mary Janes with wedged heels. Two little silver crosses hung from her ears, and a black with white lace headdress sat atop her head. Her long locks were curled, separated into two pigtails held in place by little black bows.

She was almost as tall as Rika, take a few inches or so, but what was odd was she seemed to be only about ten or twelve years old by appearance.

"I should say the same thing, Rika, Digimon Queen. Don't tell me you've forgot..."

"How do you know who I am...?"

"Five years, three months, two weeks, three days, seven hours, twenty eight minutes and twelve seconds ago we met. You, Henry, and Takato with your digimon partners were in need. I was sent to your location with Dobermon, the very digimon responsible for your sudden access to the Bio-Merge Digivolutions. Do you still not remember?"

That was slightly disturbing if not more so, Rika thought to herself.

"Alice...?" Henry slowly drew out.

"Yes," the girl replied. "It seems that you do remember."

"No way," the boy muttered.

"Is she your girlfriend or something?" Kazu wondered.

He was responded with a blunt "no" from both Henry and Alice, and a whack to the head from Kenta.

"Seriously. Not the time for jokes."

"Regardless of our past meeting, I am afraid I am not permitted to allow you passage, Miss," she said, extending her arms, using them to emphasize her point. "Please do not cross me until Takato returns with Ryo. The fight should be over and done with quite soon."

"Fight?" Rika asked, her focus of attention now switching to the idea that Ryo may be in fact doing her work for her.

"Ryo was boasting how even though Takato is almost as tall as he is, the fact that he is older has made him believe rather poorly that Takato is weaker than him. It began with a few punches, but when it started to get a little too graphic for my taste, I ordered them to a nearby clearing where they will likely work out their problem within a few minutes. If Takato hurries and defeats the arrogant young man I will not have to give his secret to you..."

She paused.

"And Ryo has also gotten personal with Takato by asking him about a rather touchy subject..."

"Chumley's fighting Ryo?! I gotta see this!" Kazu yelled, running off in search of his long time friend and the previously mentioned Tamer.

The others followed him, also quite eager. Kenta and Henry both looked quite worried. Kenta because he didn't think friends fighting would end well. Henry because of the rather twisted grin on Rika's face. If he didn't know any better, he would say that she was almost happy to hear that Takato and Ryo were fighting not so friendly.

Alice shook her head and sighed, walking off after them.

Such a trivial matter would not trick her into ruining perfectly good shoes.

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"You never should have stuck your nose where it doesn't belong, Ryo!" Takato yelled as he rolled underneath the brunette's upper kick, also managing to block two punches in the direction of his gut and head.

"You should have just walked away! This has nothing to do with you!"

"Well at least I know that it's better to trust your friends and not keep secrets about the gate!" he yelled, nearly landing a punch, when Takato flipped over his head, sending him tumbling to the ground, off balance. He quickly recovered his stance in time to block a potential kick to the chin with both his forearms.

"Was it your choice or the Digimon Sovereigns' to keep it, huh?! Answer me Takato!"

"I did what I had to!" he replied, managing to land a punch to his face, blood seeping from his mouth.

"You're upset because I didn't want the others to get hurt? Or what, did you just take a swing at me for the goddamn fun of it?!"

"Woohoo! Go Ryo!" yelled an obnoxious voice as the older of the two almost kicked his feet out from under him. Takato spun his head to the left as he leaped over the other's head, to see Kazu cheering on the fight. Soon enough, everyone but Jeri and Alice was gathered off to the side, each bering their own version of surprised on their faces.

He hissed at Kazu's idiocy.

"That little..."

As soon as Ryo sent a flying punch towards him, he stepped to the side, grabbing the arm and launching the brunette towards the others. When that was done, he sped past them as quickly as possible, and off into a deeper part of the trees. Just before they completely vanished, his gaze met that of Alice's as she finally stood with his friends.

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They were in that white room. The two children played nearby, and the dark mist and heat was still growing. Takato and Alice opened their eyes as they stood beneath a shady tree, the sun shining through the green leaves.

"I don't appreciate you harming my escort. Although there really was no stopping it. Ryo is somewhat troublesome to handle. But tell me Takato, why do you plan to run? Usually you like to face problems head on with everything you have. Have you finally broken that little spell and returning to the way you once were?"

She turned her head slightly, waiting for his response.

"I can't face them like this. But then again I don't appreciate you nearly telling my friends what I'm supposed to. Just because we share the Eyes doesn't mean you suddenly have the right to-"

"I know. I shouldn't have. But if you're not going to tell them, I'm the next one in line for the job."

He sighed, rather frustrated with the girl.

"I'm aware of that, Alice. Getting to my point though, its too dangerous. I saw their faces. I could feel what they felt. I always could. Although Henry and the others are mostly confused, Rika and Ryo are the ones that are the most upset by this. Ryo given how he was losing control of his energy, and Rika because of the way she looked at me. She looks just about ready to slap me."

"Thank God."

"Excuse me?" he asked, head turning right back towards her.

"You're so smart, but at the same time, I wish you weren't so stupid!"

"What do you mean?"

"What convinced you so easily that it was better to take the fall for your friends? Didn't you know that you could trust them? You, Takato, you're nothing like what I've heard from Guilmon. He said you were happy, that you would stick with your friends no matter what. What's wrong with you?"

As if hearing her, the little brunette girl with a whistle and a pink dress walked up, the boy close behind. They looked at the two intently, their playing forgotten instantly.

"He's hurt," the little girl said thoughtfully. "His wings..."

"They look weird."

"They're gonna fall off..."

"The children catch on quickly,Takato. Even they can see how badly you've been harmed by that world," Alice nearly whispered, head turning up to the limp, blood-stained wings barely hanging on his back. A pair of fairly small sized wings appeared on hers as well as the children's.

"At least you have wings Alice. These broken... things... on my back are useless. I can't fly with a heart as ugly as these..."

"Maybe you just need a little more time. Perhaps that girl is right. Maybe your friends are the ones that can mend them back together..."

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Alice thoughtfully gazed after Takato as he vanished into the trees. She sighed sadly and turned towards the others as they helped Ryo up. When Rika finally took notice of Alice again, she growled and spoke.

"Well? You seem to know what's going on. Mind telling us how Ryo got his ass kicked so badly?"

"Hey! I wasn't that awful" the young adult retorted.

"Really? I couldn't tell from the way Takato just left without a scratch. Would you care to tell us what was it you said that got Takato so pissed he decided to fight you?" Rika asked. "Because last time I checked, he only got that angry one time. One time Ryo," she continued, holding up her index finger, getting in his face. "What did you say, huh?"

He stared at Alice.

"I'm... not supposed to tell you. It would mess with my orders from the Digimon Sovereigns..."

"Digimon Sovereigns? Do you mean, like, Azulongmon and Zhuqiaomon?" Kenta asked him, not believing what he was hearing in the least bit.

"No way, Ryo. Even I know that the gate's shut. No one in. No one out. Where have you been the last five years?" Kazu said, finally pulling the other up onto his feet.

"You were with us when the gate closed up and the digimon went through, weren't you? Care to explain how you got in contact with the Digimon Sovereigns?" Henry asked, crossing his arms, tapping an impatient foot in waiting for the older one's answer.

"Yes, Ryo," Rika piped up. "Do explain."

"It's okay Ryo," a familiar voice spoke up. "You don't have to tell them. I will."

Jeri walked up to them from the clearing as they were occupied with Takato's leaving and Ryo's need for an explanation. They were surprised, even Alice, at how serious and determined she looked. It was something... unnatural, almost.

"Jeri," Alice warned the girl.

"Alice, do me a favor and shut up for once. This is much as my problem as it is Takato's. You have no right to tell everyone for him."

Once the blond was quiet, Jeri continued.

"I probably should have said something the moment Takato told me about the gate. Maybe he wouldn't be the way he is now..."

She finally looked up.

"The gate to the Digital World is still open."

"WHAT?!"

"For how long?" Rika asked, that smirk wiped away, a more worried look spread upon her face.

"Ever since Guilmon first dug it up. It never closed..."

"And you've been waiting to tell us for how long?" the red head asked, now seeming to get angrier and angrier every second.

"Five years to this day. Five years ago, when Takato was checking Guilmon's home one time, he went in a little further. He's not so sure what drove him to do so, but he seemed happy when he told me that the gate was still open. I wanted to tell you guys right away, but he said he wanted to check if it was safe. That was the first time I lied to you guys about Takato taking off on his own. When he came back, he said that he wanted us to both keep the gate a secret. He said that if you guys knew, you would want to go through to find the digimon, and he couldn't let that happen..."

"Why not?" Henry finally asked, also beginning to become upset with his friend.

"He didn't want you to get hurt. Remember when he said he got that big mark on his arm from a run-in with a bike rider? Takato lied about that. He actually got it when he got stuck in a landslide on the first plane where he found the others, on his way back to Earth. Takato knew just how dangerous the Digital World was after the D-Reaper damaged it so badly. I've seen all his scars. He's serious."

"Scars? What do you mean?" Ryo asked, never hearing of Takato collecting scars.

"Twenty at least. It's been a year since I've counted them, and there's no doubting he managed to hurt himself a couple more times while gone this past year..."

"For a whole year?! What about his parents, haven't they said anything?" Henry wondered, full of questions.

"They were informed shortly after Takato's return from the Digital World. Both approved without any problems in the matter, and have kept the vow of never saying a word of his trips to anyone else. Through extensive surveillance over them it seems that they do not wish to do so any time soon," Alice briefly said, already noticing how Jeri had angrily stared at her.

"Now that that's settled, what do you say we go find Takato and see what he has to say about all of this?" Rika suggested, as soon as the mood had quieted down. "Maybe even Ryo can get a second chance at a butt whooping..."

"How was I supposed to know that Takato was able to bench press over 500 pounds, huh?" he shouted in retaliation.

"540 to be exact. It's hard to believe I know, given Takato's rather scrawny in appearance, I used to doubt him too. However there was this one occasion where he launched me about 100 feet or so. Thank goodness it was just in the white world for the Eye Bearers or else I would be very much dead at the moment. But under any other circumstance, we probably should go find him. Since arriving here I have reason to believe that creatures have followed us through the temporarily open gap between the Digital World and ours..."

Alice then stopped for a moment, and paused.

"There is a strong presence of other-worldly aura within a mile radius closing in fast. We should get a move on quickly. Come along now..."

She turned away, and walked off in the direction Takato had run a little while ago. The others shrugged to each other, quickly following the girl so not to lose her as they had lost Takato.

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"Silly human. Silly little doll with small black wings, you know. Barely even human. Too much time in the Digital World made her fall apart. And its the stupid Eye too. It wrecks her wings. It did yours. Won't you let me rip those ugly things off your back and let you grow new ones? They won't heal. The Eye makes them worse, you know, little human."

Takato frustratingly growled at the annoying little girl's voice.

"Stop talking to me. I'll never give you the Eye. It belongs to me. No questions asked. So why are you still here?"

Tiny little fingers ghosted over his hand. He could almost feel baby soft skin, but the brunette quickly reminded himself that it was just another bored little spirit from the other world trying to mess with his head. That the supposed feeling was nothing but an illusion to psyche him out. But it was too bad that it didn't realize it was already losing a battle.

"Because anyone can see those ugly wings. They're hanging by the bones. Feathers are sticky and red. I can yank them right out of you, you know. That way pretty white wings will grow back and you can heal. Don't you want that?"

He pulled out a gun and fired at the ground between them, the little girl spirit backing away, a rather sad look on her face, as if she was upset that he didn't want her near him.

"No more head games. They don't work on me, in case you didn't realize. Why don't you just give it up already? You want the Eye simply for its power, but you stupid little spirits can't understand it. It's mine. So go ahead and tell me who keeps sending you mindless little creatures after me. Or maybe I could just scour both worlds, shooting down every last one of your little friends with my gun?"

"Foolish. Useless. If I die, one of my brothers or sisters will come here. Maybe convince you. With every one of us that dies, another pops right up to replace. See? Completely useless."

"The same goes with your efforts, foolish little agent," another girl cut in.

Alice approached the girl and pushed her to the ground, small beady tears in her blue eyes. Red hair was spilled onto the ground around her, long and curled at the ends. Barely colored skin connected with the green grass, a white dress tearing as she fell. She got up, lower lip curling in a way that appeared as if she was just about to break out into tears.

"Wicked, wicked! Evil girl!" the small girl sobbed, getting up and furiously stomping a foot.

"If I'm wicked, what does that make you, you monster? You're no little, innocent girl, not with that heavy aura you're carrying around. A real little girl carries at the very most a tenth of what you have. Jump on out of that shell. There's nothing you can do in such a worthless little form so get out while you still can. Or maybe..."

Alice reached forward and grabbed several strands of hair, the girl kicking and screaming, hitting against her in attempt to free herself.

"Or maybe I should pluck every last hair off your head? If you're lucky, I'll let you live. But only if you tell us who sends you, of course. There is always a price to freedom," the blond said as she pulled a large chunk of hair off her head. The girl screamed in terror, and from the side Alice could hear Jeri or Rika choke back a yell. Perhaps she had let on too soon that there was nothing either girl could do to stop her. So far the only ones capable of that were those with Eyes, Takato being an example. But if she counted right that was less than six people. It didn't matter much anyways. The girl wasn't human.

"Don't even think of helping her. She's not human. To put it simply, the little girl she used to be went and got swallowed up by a monster from another world. That means that's what she is now. So there's nothing any of us can do for her," Takato said, noticing this also.

"It would help us out a great deal if you stopped acting like a brat," Alice said as more chunks of hair slipped through her fingers and onto the grass. "So tell me now," she said, grabbing the remaining hairs with one hand. "Will you or will you not reveal the identity of the person who is responsible for filth like you aimlessly wandering this world?"

The girl hissed, and Henry could swear he saw her eyes turn red and fangs grow in place of her teeth. Alice sighed and dropped the hairs, moving an arm under the girl's chin. With a quick crack, the girl fell limp onto the grass, body fading into data. Jeri turned away as the girl vanished, not wishing to see the so very innocent looking eyes still along with the rest of her whole body. Finally the blond looked up from her kill and towards the brunette.

"It's fine, Jeri Katou. She is gone now," she stated, motioning towards where the red haired girl once was. But she cocked her head to a slight angle an curiously asked her, "Or is something the matter? I did it away from you all as I would imagine a regular person having a fit about what I just did."

"I'm just taking a guess, but I think she might be a little freaked out how you just snapped that girl's neck like it was nothing. I know I am," Kenta explained, taking the hint that Jeri didn't want to look at Alice, and probably not even speak to her.

"It wasn't a girl. It was a monster. A mistake. It came from the other world and probably swallowed up the first body it could find so it could travel to this location without being seen as its true form. The aura was fairly strong, so it must have been about drone level. Not very strong, though. It barely put up a fight, so it can't be. I'm guessing it's just another scavenger. Pointless little things that keep trying to find anyone with an Eye that might show the slightest bit of weakness. There might be another in a few hours or so, but it's not very likely," she responded, glancing at her palm for a few seconds.

Her head whirled upright as she noticed Rika storming up to Takato. The red head, once three feet away, swung her arm and smacked him right across the left cheek with a loud slap. The young man then paused for a moment, still very unmoved by the slap, and put his palm up to his cheek, keeping it there.

"I deserved that."

Rika went wide eyed and stared at him for a moment. She quickly looked away and sighed.

"Then I guess I should say sorry."

"I had it coming since day one," he briefly said, turning away. But Rika pulled him back where he was standing, a now more apologetic grin spread across her face. He stopped and looked at her, right eyebrow raised in curiosity.

"Why don't we go to my place? We can talk over tea," she offered. "All of us."

"If that's your way of saying sorry, then I guess..."

She hugged him for a short bit, cutting him off. When they pulled away, or rather, when Rika pulled away, he was left looking very much confused.

"It's glad to have you back, Takato..."

As she turned away, the others following along, Takato walked up to her.

"Mind telling me what else I've missed? First you slap me, then you hug me?"

"It's not my fault guys and girls can barely understand each other. If I were you, I'd be glad that I said sorry!"

Kazu glanced over to Jeri, who was oddly smiling now. Ryo and Kenta noticed also, but Kazu was the one who spoke up.

"Hey Jeri, you okay? You're smiling now..."

"I'm happy, guys. It sort of feels like old times. We haven't all been together like this in five years, remember? And I'm glad that we're already getting along so well. It's sort of... unreal, you know?"

"Unreal is right," Ryo muttered softly to himself. "Since when does a happy goggle boy turn into a walking arsenal?"

Hearing this, Alice walked on further, passing him up with a rough shoulder bump. She ignored any words he might have aid as soon as she caught up to Rika and Takato with Henry. The blond gave the four behind her a somewhat emotional glance. The girl turned away and never looked back, her right eye fluttering underneath her patch.

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It was awkward to say in the very least. Though, Rika seemed quite eager to laugh at the situation. The Tamers were sitting down at the long table, sipping tea like old women with nothing much better to do than sit down for tea while telling old stories. Which was exactly what Kazu and Kenta were trying to do. Since sitting down they tried to reignite memories from their past. Of the Devas and the D-Reaper. Of the time spent with their digimon partners. But Takato did not at all seem the least bit phased by their antics. In fact he was quite content with his current kneeling position and the herbal tea, and as content as a teenager carrying weapons under a long leather jacket and a patch over his eye could possibly look.

Henry wanted to say something to get Kazu and Kenta to stop, but realized it would be useless. All he could really do was hope that the two annoying friends of Takato's would shut up before they said something they would regret.

"Hey chumley, what's with the eye patch? Are you a pirate now or what?"

Too late.

Takato had quickly stood up, a knife landing right where Kazu's hand just was. The more spiky haired young man shuddered in fear as he glanced at himself in the blade's reflection. Kazu backed up as Alice reached over and plucked the knife out of the wood with two delicate fingers. The blond haired girl turned, holding the handle of the knife out towards Takato, a short glimpse of her own patch possible. Takato took it carefully and hid it somewhere on his person before going back to his cup.

"I should have warned you too, Kazu," Alice informed him, also taking a short sip of the brown liquid. "It took a great deal of effort on my part to keep Ryo from being shot or his eyes gouged out, but honestly you had that coming."

"What? What'd I say?" he asked, still somewhat confused.

"It was the pirate comment," Ryo informed him, before turning to his own cup. Under the tips of her fingers Rika could feel the movements created by the nineteen year old. She looked over for a short moment, noticing his shaking hands as they held the tea. Looking away she wondered whether he had been frightened. She sure was. Takato almost took off Kazu's right hand.

"I suppose now would be the best time to tell you to watch yourselves," Alice said from the end of the table. "Although it is too late for Ryo and Kazu," she mused after taking another sip of her own cup.

"But seriously Takato, would you mind telling us why you have to wear that?" Jeri very politely asked the teen, giving a short sideways glance to Kazu as she did so. "Did something happen in the year you were gone?"

"Matsuda Takato, don't you dare," Alice warned as Takato set the tea kettle he had picked up right back down, her own tea cup spilling in the process. "It is not our right to disclose such information in our current location. The risks of outside forces becoming aware of it is too great at the moment. At least wait the eleven hours and fifty one minutes remaining until I can attempt to connect them to the network."

"Don't even start with that, Alice! You're right. I am smart. Smart enough to see that I have no other choice! They have to know!" he shouted back at her, finally forcing the others to pay attention to the matter at hand. The brown haired young man removed the black eye patch barely hidden behind the locks over his left eye. As he dropped it, he quickly brushed aside the bangs, finally revealing a blood colored eye.

"I knew your eyes were red, but that's just-"

"Wrong? I know," Takato finished for Rika. "But it's all I have left to keep me from falling over. If it weren't for the strength this Eye gave me, I'd probably have lost everything. Even the ability to smile."

"I'm glad you didn't Takato. I don't know what'd I'd do if you never smiled again," Jeri said as honestly and heartfelt as she could.

"It hurts right now. Smiling. Even though I said that this Eye gives me enormous strength and ability just now, there's a price to it. The longer you have it, the more likely you are to go insane with your power. Or even commit suicide. It's why there's only eight people out of all the DigiDestined that should have these Eyes. But at the same time, that doesn't mean just anyone can handle it."

"For example," Alice said. "Say I did not wish to have my Eye anymore, and I happened to give it to Rika. As we know, she is a very skilled Tamer. She has a powerful digimon. Outstanding Tamer abilities rivaling Ryo's own. Yet at the same time she was not born with a special genetic trait that will allow her to possess the Eye while keeping her mind stable. Because the defense of her psyche is weak, I estimate that she could die from the psychological damage in a matter of three days. Not to mention I would then die four days later due to my loss of said Eye."

"Why? Can't you just take it back?" Kenta said.

"No. In a way the Eyes work like any limb or other part of your body. When you remove it, there is a great deal of damage done. But unlike a limb, it cannot be reattached. Once it's gone. It's gone. And two people will likely die because of it. And yet, at the same time, the eight who possess these Eyes will suffer long term damage. Out of all of us eight, Takato is the second to have an awakened Eye," the blond said.

"What do you mean by awake?" Henry inquired.

"When an Eye awakes," Takato continued. "It is likely because the Bearer either has a traumatic experience and is in desperate need of psychological aid, or as a self defense mechanism in which case the Eye's carrier is in danger. Though the second is more likely so it seems..."

"Although this talk about Eyes is very interesting," Ryo said, voice laced immensely with sarcasm. "I take it you and Alice are here for something more important than telling all of this to us. I bet you need our help, right?"

"Correct," they said in monotone.

"Well, spill," Kazu burst out all of a sudden. "I wanna know what I'm gonna' be up against!" he said with a raised fist.

"False conclusion, Hirokazu," Takato said, his voice robotic, as he spoke the other's first name, and his Eye glowed an angry red. "You as well as Kenta, Ai, Makoto, and Shiuchon Lee are not permitted to accompany myself, Ms. McCoy, Ryo, Jenrya, Ruki, and Juri on our journey. However, your digimon partners will be sent here so you may act as a line of defense under the event that something may happen to the six of us. As such you will be responsible for Shinjuku, the likely place the enemy will first strike, given this is the most active area of Bio-Emerging and furthermore, the most likely place for them to appear first."

"Takato, you've lost control of yourself again. I ask that you stop for the sake of your friends being able to remotely understand what you are trying to explain," Alice interrupted, giving the brunette a warning look.

Takato then came to, shaking his head side to side.

"I've got to stop doing that," he muttered to himself.

"So wait, let me get this straight. We're going where now?" Rika asked, remembering that they never quite heard where they were going to have to run off to.

"Tomorrow. Around the afternoon. According to what me and Alice were told, it will be raining in all four versions of Earth at the same time for a mere hour. The young woman who gathered the Bearers of the Eyes will use the connection we share with her to bring us outside the field separating our world from the other three. She will brief us, talk with the Bearers, and then separate us into groups before sending us to our true destination."

"The Fifth World," Alice finished.

"The Fifth World?" others said in unison, everyone equally surprised.

"Someone or something from that world is trying to destroy the field separating the four worlds. Which means that they're all going to be destroyed by colliding into each other," Ryo briefly explained, fed up with the complicated explanations they were all being given. "And now apparently we're going to go there with people we've never met and try to figure out what's messing with our worlds together."

"It won't be as bad as it sounds. They're kinda like us. They saved their Earth and their Digital World. They've met digimon. You may even find someone that reminds you of yourselves," Takato reasoned. "But right now I believe we should all start to make our goodbyes," he said, getting up on his feet. He walked over to the sliding door and pulled on his shoes.

"Where are you going Takato?" Jeri asked him. But when she was about to get up and follow, Alice pulled her back down. "What are you-?"

"He's going home," she stated. "He has business to take care of."

"With his parents?" Rika guessed.

"Yes."

"Poor guy," Kenta sighed. "He's been gone a year and now he's going off on some deadly mission he'll probably never come back from. It probably kills him to see how bad his mom and dad will be hurt by this," he explained.

"We all have to say goodbye sometime. Takato just has to do it more often than others," Alice chimed in.

"These Eye things... I'm starting to wonder if they're really worth the powers they give you," Henry said thoughtfully.

"I know. Unspeakable power to protect everything you know. But at the same time the probability of psychological trauma. Even I start to regret ever being born..."

"You're not the only one, Alice. You're not the only one," Takato muttered, before closing the door behind him and heading towards his parent's bakery.

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"I shouldn't be here... All I'll ever do is hurt the DigiDestined. If it weren't for me, everything would be exactly how it should be. You might be yourself right now," a young dark haired girl mused. She vanished, and in her place stood Lilithmon, the infamous Demon Lord of Lust. "I never should have given you the Eye, Marcus..."

"There's nothing we can do about it though. We just have to keep reminding ourselves that it'll all be over soon..."

"Nothing we can do. But there is something you can do."

"Something I can do? I'm not Marcus anymore, Kaiya. Not since these Eyes woke me up."

"But I'm not Kaiya anymore. I'm Lilithmon, remember? And what use is a dead girl anyways?" she asked him.

"That's why I want to get you back. The real Kaiya. Maybe I can get myself back, too," he said barely above his breath.

The wind picked up, blowing several strands of stray hairs in its direction. The dark mist from before came from the shadows, and the false sun was suddenly brighter, to the point where its rays could set fire to the dried grass. Lilithmon vanished, the girl in its place.

"You'd better go. Two of 'em are waking up."

But then three lone figures appeared, confused as the next.

"Something's not right. Why are there three of them? You didn't drag some other kid in too, did you?"

"No, I couldn't have... Unless..."

Her dark eyes grew wide, and Lilithmon faded in.

"One of them isn't supposed to have the Eye."

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End Chapter

* * *

Okay, okay. I know I haven't been posting any links or anything. Graduations parties, family time, and other stuff has been sucking the time right out of me. And now summer's just about halfway done.

Relax, though. I plan on posting a link to my deviantART account in my profile.

Until then...

* * *

Next Chapter:

Spirits


	4. Chapter Three: Spirits

Digital Crisis

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-Chapter Three-  
Spirits

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_"Keep your friends close and your enemies closer..."_

-Sun Tzu (544 BCE - 496 BCE)

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"Think they're awake?"

Who's there?

"Maybe. It's hard to tell sometimes. We can be half awake, half asleep. You could be able to hear or see everything, and not be able to say a word... There's a lot that can happen when you're not completely logged into the system, Marcus," a girl spoke to the male voice.

System? What system? Who are you people?

"Especially when your Eye hasn't awoken yet. But all it does is leave more work for us, are we right?" the others said with a rather lax attitude.

"An Eye?" he muttered.

"Did you hear that, Kaiya?"

"Uh huh," a child responded, maybe half as old as himself. "The Warrior of Darkness. Now we know has the Right Eye of Spirits. But then there's the two others. The Warrior of Light and the Warrior of Fire. I wonder why there's two others and not one. Oh well. I suppose we'll find out eventually, huh?"

"Find out what? Who's there?"

"We should go. Contact us if one of them wakes up. We will go narrow the choices. Besides. One Bearer can't tell the whole story," a somewhat warped voice said to someone.

"And you can?" the older girl asked her male companion.

"We can try..."

"Don't hurt anyone, Marcus," the younger girl whimpered.

"We cannot guarantee..."

"But please promise me you'll try not too..."

"I promise."

"What do you want with us?" Kouichi asked, finally summoning the courage to speak up. He didn't quite understand why he could hear these three or four people. And more importantly, he didn't understand how he, Kouji, and Takuya fit into the conversation. He knew he was asleep, but he wasn't exactly sure he was dreaming.

**Kimura Kouichi (Koichi): Age 16: Grade 10: DigiDestined: Wielder of the Spirits of Darkness**

"This isn't a dream. But that doesn't mean you don't have to wake up."

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Kouichi opened his eyes to fluffy white clouds and a beautiful blue sky. He looked away as a bright flash of light obscured his vision. His head spun to see a soccer field. Takuya stood near the front of the line, facing the team. The brown haired teen yelled something as one player ran to the end of the line and another ran forward to kick a ball towards the goalie, who barely caught it with both his hands. Takuya looked at his wrist, clapping his hands together several times. As Kouichi's hearing finally returned, he caught the last few words his friend shouted.

**Kanbara Takuya: Age 16: Grade 10: DigiDestined: Wielder of the Spirits of Fire**

"...that's it for today. But remember! We've got a tournament tomorrow morning! Let's give it everything we've got, ya' hear me!"

His morale-giving exclamation was then followed by the healthy sound of cheering from his teammates. Next to him, he could hear Zoe laughing to herself. Turning his head, Kouichi caught her chuckling as she finished off the last of her slushie. Hearing his movement no doubt, she looked to her left to see him.

"Hey guys, look who's up!"

**Orimoto Izumi (Zoe): Age 16: Grade 10: DigiDestined: Wielder of the Spirits of Wind **

"Geez, bro, how do you fall asleep when Takuya's team practices for the tournament's final round? He's been yelling everyone's ears off for the last hour," Kouji informed his brother as he nudged him in the middle of his back, motioning for him to sit upright. "Actually," he said, changing his mind. "He's been doing it ever since he became team captain. Man do I feel sorry for those guys..."

**Minamoto Kouji (Koji): Age 16: Grade 10: DigiDestined: Wielder of the Spirits of Light**

"They're lucky. They never had to deal with Lucemon or corrupt Legendary Warriors," JP pointed out.

**Shibayama Junpei (JP): Age 17: Grade 11: DigiDestined: Wielder of the Spirits of Thunder**

"True. But now that I think about, Takuya could probably defeat Lucemon in one go. He doesn't need his D-Tector. Just a megaphone," Kouji joked, when Kouichi nudged him in the side. "What was that for?"

"Baw. Is wittle Kouwichi cwanky fwom his nap?" Zoe clasped her hands together, putting her lips in an exaggerated pout and batting her eyelashes at the young man. The others immediately laughed, much to Kouichi's displeasure. Zoe immediately stopped, rubbing her elbow into her friend's right shoulder. He knocked it away, rolling his eyes as the other two continued cackling like, at what this point seemed to be, hyenas. His eyes twitched as his very in vain attempts to return to his happy place were disrupted.

"Who's napping now?" a voice piped up. The four turned heads to see their rather happy looking non-goggled friend grinning at them. He tossed a soccer ball over his shoulder before climbing up to join them. "Aw, forget. Any of you know where Tommy is?"

"Here!" shouted a still young voice compared to theirs. Tommy slung his backpack from his shoulder to his arms and then set the bag down on the grass. He rubbed the back of his head for some reason and nervously smiled, looking rather awkward. "Sorry I missed your team's practice. A run-in with a frisbee made me a bit late," he chuckled sheepishly to his older brother figure.

**Himi Tomoki (Tommy): Age 14: Grade 8: DigiDestined: Wielder of the Spirits of Ice**

"Don't worry about it. It was pretty much the same as usual. But it kinda stinks how you went back to school earlier than we will. Learn anything new?" he asked the still smaller than him Tommy.

"Naw. Everything's the same. The science teacher gave everyone a ton of homework and the local jock swirlied someone's head in the toilet during lunch. It's kinda like pre Digital World all over again," the young teen sighed.

"I hope not. You stood up to the jerk and said something, right?" JP asked his younger friend, wondering the same thing as the others.

"I was kinda nervous, given how he can bench press twice my weight, but then I remembered that time in the Digital World when I had to stand up to Katsuharu and Teppei, and I wasn't afraid anymore. Besides, one bully is nowhere near as bad as those Royal Knights that were out to get us," he answered truthfully.

"Good for you, Tommy! You didn't hurt him, did you?" the blond girl wondered, hoping he didn't flip out on this kid that had suddenly become the subject of their conversation.

"He kinda ran away. Sure he was bigger and stronger than me, but apparently he's not that great when it comes to thinking. I guess I kind of... embarrassed him... And now a lot of the kids sort of respect me, you know? But it felt... kinda weird. Do you get that sometimes, Takuya? You being soccer team captain and having everyone look up to you even though you're only a second year student?" he asked of his friend, though somewhat hesitant at doing so.

"I kind of got over it around your age, I think. And it just followed me all the way up 'til now..."

But as he began to go on and on, his cell phone erupted from his bag. Unzipping it and grabbing the device, he flipped it open and pushed a button to silence it. Turning away from the others for some privacy, he spoke into it as he rezipped his bag.

"Moshi moshi...? Sure... Alr... Alright! Bye."

"Something wrong?" Zoe asked her boyfriend.

"No. I just have to check up on Shinya in an hour. Mom and dad are going to a wedding so I have to check up on my brother every so often. They still don't trust him being home alone after the accident..."

"Accident?" she inquired.

"Apparently Takuya's little brother managed to set the kitchen on fire. Thankfully our leader here has a sixth sense, or by now his house would be a mountain of ash," Kouji explained to his friend, then exchanging a quick glance with Takuya.

"I was just watering the garden and I smell smoke all of a sudden. Luckily I had the hose still on and I put it out. But mom still grounded Shinya for two weeks as punishment..." After swinging his bag over his head and onto his right shoulder for support. "And speaking of Shinya, I'd better go check up on him now, not to mention change out of my uniform... But uh, where're we going to meet up?" he asked, while searching for something he could use to write on his arm with.

"I think I could go for some coffee to wake me up," Kouichi half yawned, half sighed as he rubbed his aching back. He took a mental note not to fall asleep on metal bleachers in the near future. "M still a bit sleepy... What do you guys think of the one near Shibuya Station?"

"Alright."

"Sounds like a plan..."

"In half an hour? Maybe 5:30ish?" Takuya guessed.

"Fair enough."

"Cool. See you guys there," the soccer captain waved goodbye and ran off towards home. His friends leaped off the bleachers, landing around Tommy. They brushed the gathered dust off a little then headed in the direction opposite their friend. As soon as they reached the curb and stopped at a crosswalk, they soon found themselves talking about the old days.

"Yup. Doesn't get any better than the Digital World," JP said casually, mentally slapping himself for almost putting an arm around Zoe's waist. He thought the JP from five years ago was long gone, but he supposed that maybe that wasn't quite true. It was especially hard give how beautiful she had become over the years. Yes, indeed, he thought, Takuya was definitely the luckiest man alive to be her boyfriend.

"I know. It's hard believing that it's already been over five years since we restored peace," Kouji added. "And now everything just seems boring. I mean, now that we're back in the real world the most evil we'll be battling is in the classroom during one of the history teacher's lectures. How lame is that?"

"Tell me about it," Zoe groaned. "Even my sweet sixteen party was nowhere near as thrilling as being Kazemon," the blond said, making imaginary punching movements to the air. Tommy joined her by pretending he was Kumamon attacking a bunch of Candlemon with his signature Blizzard Blaster. The two collapsed on the ground, laughing with each other, and the other three joining in as well while a few passerbys gave them odd looks as if they had gone crazy.

"I'd give up every video game I ever owned just to be Kumamon for a few seconds," Tommy sighed.

"And I'd give up all the chocolate in the world to relive our adventures," JP added as they began to cross the street.

"All the chocolate, JP?" Kouji teased him.

"Well maybe not the KitKats. That's a piece of heaven right there," he commented.

"Hey, Kouichi, you're awfully quiet over there. Is something wrong?" Tommy asked the short haired twin.

"I guess I'm just more tired than I thought," he yawned. "Coffee was a pretty good idea..."

"It was your idea," Zoe corrected him. "Or have you forgotten already, Kouichi?"

"Seriously though, Kouichi," Kouji said, pulling him back from the rest of the group. "This is the third time this week you've fallen asleep when Takuya's team is practicing. Are you sure there's nothing you need to talk about?"

"Relax, Kouji. It's just a couple weird dreams. It's nothing. I barely even remember them anymore," he said truthfully, his brother releasing his arm and leaving him free to rejoin the others. But after a few moments Kouji rushed out into the street after him.

"Kouichi!"

The brother turned only to see a flash of light, then total darkness.

.

.

.

"Ah. DigiDestined Kanbara Takuya. The collective has long anticipated your arrival. Are you here for an appointment? I must inform you that the waiting time is extended due to minor troubleshooting. As soon as the error is resolved I will put you through," a robotic voice spoke. Kouichi opened his eyes to a white room. In front of him was a lobby desk with a computer, a few stacks of papers, a currently silent telephone, and a blond haired, blue eyed woman who smiled at Takuya in the wheeled chair.

"What is this place? I've been here a lot but I never knew what it was," he muttered.

"This is the access point between the Bearers' World and that of reality. But only a Bearer may pass without a previously arranged meeting. But of course you already knew that."

"I never knew that. I've only been coming here for a week, not to mention you're the first person I've talked to..."

"But this is not the first time in hearing the events that took place, is this correct?"

"I need to speak with the girl. The one with three voices," Takuya cut her off.

"I do not have the authority to approve your chosen course of action. Please standby until the troubleshooting has completed."

"Nothing is real in this place. Especially not a fragment of long deleted information.

He walked past, the woman fading out. He stepped onto green, blades of grass brushing against his barren ankles. Small drops of dew clung onto his skin in greater and greater quantity as Takuya reached the top of the hill. In the middle of the huge white space around him, there was a patch of green, and a few scattered white flowers growing around the young girl. She stood up and became older, longer hair and about his age, though maybe three inches or so shorter than both himself and Takuya. What was most noticeable though were her unnaturally dark and shadowy eyes.

"You came."

"I always do."

"But this time you're aware of me. You're not asleep."

What was going on? It was as if they were ignoring him completely. Or perhaps he couldn't be seen in this strange place.

"Not entirely. The me that was unconscious and unaware of you and this place remains as such. I can still feel my feet running. I'm not sure how, but whatever happened, the subconscious me is here and I need answers."

"Just one cannot provide..."

"The whole story? I know. His words were burned into my mind. Yours too. But I couldn't hear you."

Kouichi was confused. Did Takuya have the same dream as he did? Or was this all a mere figment of his imagination? He tried to hold out for more information. Perhaps Takuya could get the answers to the questions that were never answered.

"Yet you were connected to the system. But I don't see how that's possible. Your friends. The Minamoto and Kimura twins. They already have the Eyes."

Again with those Eyes. He had heard enough about everything else, but not enough of what these Eye things were that she kept talking about with Takuya. This was now the second time she mentioned these Eyes and he still didn't know what they were. But for some reason he couldn't manage to fins the voice to speak out with.

"Miscalculation?"

"Impossible is more like it."

"Well as much as I'd love to chat, I'd better go find Kouji and Kouichi. Someone almost ran them over with a car and I have to make sure nothing..."

Wait. A car? Had he been knocked into unconsciousness? Or was he dead? Either way he had to try and wake up in order to be sure.

"You heard them?"

"When don't I? They're my friends. I have to look out for them."

"Because you feel responsible?"

"There's only one Takuya Kanbara that can. We don't plan on letting them down."

What did he mean by we?

"Maybe you are one of us..."

"I beg to differ."

.

.

.

"Figures," Kouichi said once waking up. "But this time no headaches. Guess that's a good sign."

"Totally not fair," his brother complained. "You get to daydream and I nearly get crushed by a car. Just great..."

"Nearly? Try not at all. The driver swerved around you two when he saw the flash. Which, by the way, we know nothing about. Either of you two have any guesses?" JP inquired. Both shook their heads, the seventeen year old then making an unsatisfactory groan. "Come on, help us out here. What about the weird shadows? Did you at least see those?"

"JP, are you sure those were slushies you bought for us all at that stand and not alcohol?" Zoe asked him. "I didn't see any shadows. Right, guys?"

"Yeah, of course not," Kouichi lied. He smiled and laughed as convincingly as possible. He didn't want the others to suspect anything until he knew what this was all about. At first it was just the dreams that were strange. Now his brother starts shining bright white and himself emitting dark gases. He wanted to know what was going on, and whether or not the others would be affected because of it.

"All I know is that we'd better get to the coffee place soon. I hate to get my good clothes wet," the ice blue bandana boy complained.

Zoe choked on the rest of her slushie, breaking out into laughter. "God, I can hear your fan club now as they spy on us... Oh, Kouji," she said in a falsetto voice as she buckled her knees together, and faked a swoon, "You look so damn sexy! I just want to throw that shirt off for you, and..."

Kouji threw a hand over the girl's mouth before she could draw any more attention.

"I," his brother tried to speak, but couldn't.

"You don't want to know," JP said, knowing what he was going to ask.

"Ugh. Neither do I," Tommy shuddered and walked on towards the coffee shop, trying hard to erase the image from his mind. JP and Kouichi did too, and eventually Kouji allowed Zoe to speak again. After she bit his fingers.

"Ow! What's wrong with you!"

"Sometimes I wonder whether or not Kouji's really her boyfriend," Kouichi joked, earning a few glares from his brother a few feet behind him. The smile quickly vanished as he went right back to his earlier thoughts. Although he wasn't sure how, he knew he had to find that girl. The one he saw speaking to Takuya in that dream of his. Or was it a vision? He wasn't sure. But Kouichi was positive that finding her could mean finding the answers to the mysterious events he, his brother, and apparently now Takuya were mixed up in.

"Hey, watch where you're going lady!" he heard JP say to some girl that bumped into him, and eagerly sneered at him. Taking a good look at her, he noticed that it was the same long haired girl with dark eyes that he saw before. She smirked seeing the look of surprise written all over his face. She then started running, shoving anyone in her way out of it. Immediately he took off after her, and the others soon followed, calling his name. But he knew he couldn't stop.

"Kouichi, where're you going," Kouji asked as soon as he caught up to him, though the rest of the group was still out of ear shot.

"It's that girl. The one with the long hair and pale skin. I've seen her before. She owes me some answers. I'm not going to let her get away that easily!" he shouted before leaving his brother in the dust. But as he crossed the street, the light turned green, several passing cars preventing the others from advancing after them.

"Oh great. We've lost them," Tommy groaned, about ready to collapse.

"Not necessarily," the long haired twin replied.

"What do you mean? At this rate we'll never catch up with them," JP pointed out.

"He's right you know, Kouji," Zoe said to her friend.

"We don't have to catch them," Kouji explained, then showed them the screen of his cellphone. On it was a map and a blinking red light was moving northwest on the screen. "GPS tracking system. It was installed in all our cellphones when we went to get new ones after that camping accident. While Takuya distracted you guys, I had the salesperson take them into the back for the chips to be installed. We... Well, Takuya... thought it would be a good idea to track each other like we did with our D-Tectors. He didn't want to tell the rest of you for some reason. I think he said something about Zoe being able to find him anywhere at any time, but I wasn't really listening..."

"As much as I'd love to talk about my boyfriend with you, I believe we're tracking your brother?" Zoe reminded him, though now interested in being able to tack down Takuya any time she thought he was lying to her. Boy would he be in for a surprise.

"Right... And it looks like he's stopped in the park..." Kouji trailed off, looking around. turning to his left, a grin spread across his face. "We can take a shortcut! Come on, this way!"

.

.

.

"Ah, it seems you've cornered me into quite the predicament," the girl spoke to Kouichi with a strange tone. It didn't sound like she was completely surrendering, though at the same time not like she was going to attack. It was more like she was tired of running.

"Not really. You're pretty fast. You could escape if I turned my back..."

"But it defeats my purpose of being here. In this world," she began. "I wish to talk with you."

"That would explain why you've led me here," he said thoughtfully. "But what exactly do you mean by other worlds?"

"It also explains why you've chased me here. But enough about me. You want answers, am I right?"

"Starting with my recently unanswered question. What do you mean by other worlds?"

"You should know. Or rather, part of you should. Although you've been completely aware of the white world only once, your subconsciousness has heard and seen every second of it for countless times now. Don't ask me how it happens that way. None of us have completely understood it. Just... some more than others I suppose," she sighed.

"Who are you? Or... what are you?" he asked her, eyes squinting, teeth grinding.

"Oshima Kaiya. Former Bearer of the Right Eye of Form. I was born in the Fourth World, the final world where Digimon and DigiDestined were at a time able co-exist without much trouble. But due to the meddling of certain humans that is no longer possible. I am no DigiDestined. And I'm not even alive anymore."

"You're dead? But how can you be here?"

"Because of my unique condition. When I died ten years ago, my spirit, or my soul, if you prefer, was expelled from my world. My body could not withstand the trip and soon disintegrated. But I had been reborn in a new body in the Digital World paralleling my Earth. I had become Lilithmon, a Demon Lord, one of seven embodiments of ultimate evil that had been created in the Digital World. We represent the sins of mankind that had so very well tainted the Digital World. But even though I had a new body, I wasn't exactly the same."

"What do you mean by that?" he asked, not following along very well.

"Normally a body is created with a spirit already inside it and for that spirit alone. In possessing this body I had as well assimilated the essence of Lilithmon. Eventually my mind had willed itself over hers and she became like me. She had my memories, my personality. There were now two of me, to be precise. Yet somehow we never were completely one.," she said, looking down at her trembling hands.

"You said you were the Former Bearer of some eye...I don't see how you could lose an eye. So how is that?"

"I'm not sure. But the Eyes that I speak of are traits that two children from each world are born with. When my spirit moved on to the Digital World, there was this... exchange between myself and an old friend. Somehow my Eye transferred to him. Thankfully he already had the Left Eye from our world or else it wouldn't have worked. But at the same time, it's as if it caused a sudden state of amnesia. All memory of me was either lost or temporarily disconnected from his brain. However, I never learned which..."

"What does all of this have to do with me? Or my friends?"

"Two years ago I managed to contact the other seven Bearers of the Eyes, two conscious, the rest subconscious. You all received the orders to gather the DigiDestined, but only two of you were fully aware of it. One year later, one of you woke up. And now three more of you have woken too. That includes you, too, Kouichi. But as for your brother," she trailed off.

"He's not awake is he?"

"But he's not the only one..."

"Wait a second. That doesn't make any sense. Including you, me, and five other people that already makes seven people with the Eyes... and including Kouji, that makes eight of us all together. Who's the other one?"

But before the she could answer that, Kouji, Zoe, JP, and Tommy ran up to them. Kaiya ground her teeth together in frustration at having been interrupted so rudely. For a brief moment Kouichi could hear a second voice in her hiss as they frew closer and closer.

"Kouichi, would you mind telling us what's going on here? Why did you run off like that? Who is she?" his brother asked, perhaps as outraged as the girl was. But Kaiya just shoved him backwards, almost knocking him off his feet. He was astounded at the strength put behind it. She was unusually strong for their age group. Realizing that, he knew something wasn't right.

"You DigiDestined. Leave here at once. This is none of your concern."

"Sorry. But it's my concern when my brother starts chasing of some girl he just saw on the street. Now, I want to know what's going on and I want to know now," Kouji put a foot down, trying to calm himself and give the two a reason to start explaining themselves. Kouichi opened his mouth to speak, as did Kaiya, however both were abruptly cut off when a new voice had spoken up.

"Well, well. Look what we have here. It's a shame though that there's only three of us that's awake. Or maybe we counted wrong. The pony tailed kid doesn't act weird at all though, so I doubt it's him I should be looking," a young man rambled off, cleaning an ear with his finger in boredom.

The brown haired teenager with much of it tied back into a ponytail walked between Kaiya and Kouji, taller than both of them by at least three inches. He wore a red and white open vest over a black shirt. His olive green pants slid against a few blades of grass with his red shoes. A silver tag hung on a thin streak in the center of his chest, moving as he walked. Once opening his eyes, Kouichi noticed a flash of yellow in both temporarily replacing the brown.

"Marcus, I thought I told you to go after the Kanbara child. What are you doing here?"

"Couldn't find him. And yes, I used our Eyes. Whatever that kid is, he ain't human. I can't see his energy signature. Either that or he up and vanished off the face of this Earth. I'd say the Digital World might be a choice, but like you said the gate between this Earth and its Digital World is shut completely," he reminded the much shorter girl.

"Wait. Did you just say Takuya's missing?" Zoe interrupted him, earning a hiss from Kaiya at her actions.

"Check again, Marcus," Kaiya said, completely ignoring Zoe's words and focusing on Marcus's. "People's energy signatures don't just vanish without some reason behind it. So I want you to go back out there and look for him, is that understood?" she said, gripping the much taller boy's shirt. Zoe was impressed that she was able to threaten someone about half a foot taller than her and think nothing of it. But her gaze shifted when she noticed the brown haired ponytail raising his head slightly, his eyes darting to a spot past them.

"We don't have to. Take a look over yonder," he said, tilting his head slightly in the direction he was previously staring. The dark haired girl spun on her feet, turning completely around to lock eyes with a brown set.

"Hey," Takuya said, tilting his head slightly once she noticed him. Changed out of his white and red soccer uniform though, he sported a backwards red baseball cap, an open, short sleeved red jacket over a white shirt and a pair of cargo pants barely hiding the red and white gym shoes on his feet. Sticking out of his jacket's left pocket was the antenna of his cellphone. In his left hand he carried a black umbrella with a wooden handle, dragging it in the dirt.

"That was fast," Kouji stated after the long silence.

"I could have gotten here sooner, but there were... complications," Takuya explained briefly, turning his attention back to the girl before to the others. "So what's this about the twins almost getting hit by a car? And why are neither of you in the emergency room or something?" he asked before laughing to himself. "And apparently you blinded the driver? How's that? Did you turn into Lobomon and fire a Howling Laser at him?" he went on to tease his friend while the rest just stood there, amazed.

"How did you know about that? You were nowhere around when it happened," Kouichi said hesitantly, having just recalled that Takuya was not among the crowd that watched the near accident or the spectators that had been walking towards them after a few minutes.

"Meh. I'll tell you later. So what's this about you two needing to find me? Am I in trouble or something?"

When Marcus was about to speak, Kaiya glanced at him, shaking her head.

"Quite the contrary. We need your help explaining a few things..." she began, an idea fresh in her mind.

"I'm not surprised. You two are from another world. Kaiya. Marcus. And I take it you went with the whole explain-everything-at-once approach? And I really doubt you even told Kouji and Kouichi what exactly it is you're asking of them... that is, if you've even asked them in the first place."

"You're not supposed to know any of that. How...?"

"Do I know? I do and I don't at the same time. I can't explain it but it seems that although my conscious half was unaware of your world, my subconsciousness, the me that is talking to you at the moment, was completely tuned in. That was the Takuya you spoke with just minutes ago. The other me, the Takuya that is supposed to meet his friends at the coffee shop, has switched out with me once approaching you. I suppose this may have to do with your energy signatures being from a different world that it has interfered with my mind, thus the switch. Though, it doesn't matter, because I believe you need my help."

"Yeah. It'll probably be better for all of us if you do the talking. So, how much did you hear anyways?" Marcus spoke.

"Enough," he said simply.

"Ah," the teen sighed.

"So then, Takuya? Would you mind telling us what this is all about?" JP asked his friend.

"Of course. For starters, Earth, our Earth, isn't the only one. There are four altogether, including ours, and each one has a Digital World. Marcus and Kaiya are from one of these different Earths. They are the Bearers from their Earth, and were each born with an Eye. These Eyes allow the Earths to communicate with each other, and for a good reason. But I'll get to that in a bit. There are four pairs of Eyes in total, one from each Earth. These two are here to make sure who has the Eyes from our Earth."

"Me and Kouji?" Kouichi guessed.

"We won't know unless your Eyes awaken. It is impossible to tell beforehand," Kaiya explained briefyl so Takuya could continue.

"The sooner your Eyes awaken, the sooner the four worlds can come up with a plan. The barrier between them is starting to collapse, and if that happens then all Diigtal Worlds and Earths will collide..."

"And all life as we know it will cease to exist," Kaiya finished off.

"So how are we supposed to get these Eyes of theirs to wake up? I don't know about you, but the end of all life doesn't sound very fun," JP asked them, dearly hoping they had an answer to his question. After all, the end of all the Earths also meant the end of all chocolate. And he wanted to prevent that at all costs. For some reason Zoe felt like hitting JP at that moment, but gladly shook it off so she could focus on more pressing matters.

"There are only two ways that an Eye has activated so far. Stress or a lengthy presence of other Bearers," the girl counted on each of her fingers the three possibilities. "Which unfortunately could mean that we might have to stay here longer than we expected," she sighed in grief.

"But what if one of them flips out? Like that kid did? Someone could get seriously hurt since this time," Marcus said to the girl.

"We won't," Tommy cut in, surprisingly. "Don't worry about us. When we were in the Digital World we had the spirits of the Legendary Warriors. And the power to protect not just ourselves, but each other. They made us strong, and we still are!"

"Heh. Not much we can say to that. Guess we have to stick around?" the older teen said to his friend.

"Feel free, until Kouji and Kouichi get their Eyes to wake up. And when you leave, I'll finally be able to, or hopefully be able to, get my conscious self to wake the hell up. I swear I might be getting sick because of you guys," Takuya barely said above his breath, opening his umbrella and pulling it over his head. "Oh, and by the way. We should hurry to the coffee shop. It's going to rain soon," he informed them just before turning to leave. Zoe followed close behind him, and made an expression with her face to urge the others to follow as well. After remembering that Takuya was very psychic at times, when he said that it was going to rain soon, it was going to rain. Good thing, considering today she just decided to wear that new top, because now it wouldn't be ruined.

She supposed now would be one of the good times of having a psychic boyfriend.

.

.

.

"Guess the kid was right about the rain," Marcus said once running in the coffee shop just behind Kaiya. They began wringing out much of their clothing as possible while at the register, the very dry Takuya and Zoe began to place the order. Kouji, Kouichi, JP, and Tommy sat at a corner table, and after a few moments, Zoe sat down on a chair of a smaller table next to them. Seeing the teens chattering he became jealous for some reason. Shrugging it off he continued, "Are you sure he's not one of us? Psychic ability like that..."

"I'm sure. Remember, Marcus. The Bearers connect themselves with each other in the white world. In their dreams they can speak with each other like they would in real life. But this kid... I don't know what's happened to him to make his conscience split in two. I doubt he could ever even bear an Eye should his any of his friends lose theirs. The Bearers have their consciousness connected with their sub-consciousness, barely, but still connected..."

"Kaiya, what are you thinking?" he asked her. He paused then, restrained himself from shouting. "Wait! You're not gonna leave me here to get back to our world are you?"

"Exactly the opposite. I need to stay here to make sure the two are really the ones with the Eyes. And your friends need to know about all of this, fast." She paused a moment, then handed him a hand held device with a map of the city. Their location was labeled near the center of the screen just above a green dot. The red dot, labeled 'Access Point 03' was about a mile or so south of their current location. "This will help you to find the Access Points for the Worlds. Get through, and to the Fourth World. And Marcus?"

"Yeah?" he asked, about to step out.

"Please be careful."

"We will. Thank you."

Oblivious to all of this, the group of five chattered on, completely attentive only to themselves. Kaiya walked over to them and sat down at the three chaired table with Zoe, turning in her seat so to look at the remainder of the group.

"It's a good thing he spoke up or I'd probably be in jail right now, too," Kouichi said to the rest.

"Remind me never to taunt mascots any time soon. That must've been scary as hell though with all those cheerleaders running after you two," Kouji eyed his brother suspiciously.

"Wait, didn't you say they were from the south side of town?" Zoe interrupted.

"Yeah, why?" the shorter haired twin asked her.

"How can they be scary? I mean who do they think they are, wearing those short skirts, and too tight tops... I bet the real reason why their team never won the championship is because its cheerleader's look like prostitutes!" the blond said furiously, causing Kaiya to wonder why she even joined them in the first place. Out of the corner of her eyes she could see Tommy and JP inching away from her and further into the booth.

"Ugh. Don't remind me," Kouichi shuddered, shaking all over. "Good thing we got out of there, right Takuya?" he said as soon as their friend approached with the coffee. For a moment the teen almost dropped everything, but his eyes opened and he was darting them back and forth, spinning across the room in confusion.

"Aw man. Don't tell me I passed out again," he said, placing all the drinks in front of Zoe as he collapsed into a chair. Reading the side of the cup, he widened in more confusion and popped another question. "And would someone mind telling me why I'm here, and suddenly carrying coffee?" He looked to his left, noticing Kaiya sitting there. The girl gave a nervous smile and a weak wave. "Um. Who are you?"

"I'm Kaiya. Oshima Kaiya. Glad you're up."

"Thanks," he said while shaking her hand. "I swear whatever they put in their coffee it's making me sleepwalk," he muttered while the others came up to get their orders. Tommy didn't want any coffee and settled with the shortbread cookies they had up at the counter. Taking a bite, he slowly nodded towards the old team's leader. "Anyways, what are you doing here?"

"Long story. But what would you say if I told you your world was in danger?"

"Well, I'd say what took you so long to tell us? But here's a funny thing: we don't have the spirits anymore. Our D-Tectors turned back into our cell phones when we came home. And lately we haven't been getting messages from Ophanimon, so I'd say that the whole Legendary Warrior thing was just a one time deal."

"Maybe not," she retorted.

"There's a way we can get our spirits back?" Kouji asked her, setting his coffee down. "How long did it take you to tell us that?" he said, somewhat enraged. He abruptly sat up, Kouichi as well. But he was merely trying to keep his brother from making a scene.

"Kouji," he warned. "Calm down. Let's not make a big deal about it. She just didn't-"

"Not a big deal," the blue eyed twin suddenly snapped, a much louder voice from before. At the counter, the cashier looked up, and glanced at the phone for a moment, in case the argument took a turn for the worse. Seeing this, Kaiya grabbed the two out of their seats just as a sudden glint of orange sparked in Kouji's eyes. Fearing the worst, she took them outside, followed closely by the others. Before leaving though, JP left a five dollar bill on the counter and politely excused all of them.

"Sorry about that. Have a nice day!"

He then quickly followed just as Kouji yelled at the girl that had dragged them out into the rain.

"What is wrong with you, huh?"

"Kouji, please. She's just trying to make sure no one gets hurt," his brother attempted to calm him down, but his second attempt now cut off.

"Yeah! And if you keep that attitude up, someone really will get hurt!" Tommy cut in, followed by an assertive noise from the rest.

But the orange in his eyes took over, and soon an eerie glow filled his whole eyes up with the color. He snarled at his brother, and slammed into him with all his might. They flew twenty feet down the block near the curb, frightening pedestrians as they made a crater in the ground. Kouichi opened his eyes and they took were orange, and as his brother tried to get at his throat, he threw all his strength at him, knocking him across the road and into the trunk of a tree. The wood splintered and the tree snapped backwards on contact. Kouichi pulled himself out of the rubble from the first point and leaped onto his hind legs. He threw himself forward, and growled as he aimed for his brother with a cat-like motion.

"Tell me I'm not the only one who saw that," JP asked the others. Tommy and Zoe couldn't find the words, but Takuya rather gladly spoke up.

"It's like... JagerLowemon... back in the Digital World. It can't be."

"No. It's not. They've awakened. Both of them. Somehow they harnessed whatever power they had left of their spirits and used them to... No, I can't!" Kaiya threw her hands onto her head and scratched at the skin under her hair in agony as pulses rang throughout her skull. "They just woke up! Shut up! Shut up! I'll never do it! You can't make me!"

"Whoa, calm down we're not making you do-ow! Dammit!" JP tried to touch her shoulder but suddenly found her to be carrying a charge.

"JP, what happened?" Zoe said worriedly.

"She just turned into a battery is what happened! This is just great! First Kouji flips out! Then Kouichi! Now this chick! It's like Miss Fate is out to get us!" he hissed, still feeling a tingling in his arm.

"Well what do we do? We can't just let them run around Shibuya trying to kill each other! We have to find a way to make them stop!" Tommy urged the others, hoping they could think of something.

"Brother John is waking up, because the bells are ringing. Ding dong they go. Morning comes. Ding dong," a child's voice said. In Kaiya's place stood a much younger girl, at least half her age. But she had the same hair, same skin, same eyes. "Don't sleep now, little ones. Because the bells are ringing, and they go ding dong, ding dong," she sang to herself, as a strange otherworldly light enveloped her. She vanished from where she was, and appeared right next to the twins as Kouji prepared to lash at his brother's throat. They turned and snarled, with sharp fangs visible and blood on their skin.

And suddenly Kaiya had three voices and odd white filled eyes.

"Wake up, now."

The orange faded from their eyes, leaving them disoriented. Kouji stumbled out of the new hole they created at the edge of the grass after Kouichi had tackled him from the tree and into the ground there. The little girl smiled, and in an instant Kaiya was there. She pulled Kouichi out and placed him upright after assuring herself he would be fine. Once that was seen to, she stormed over to Kouji and promptly smacked him upside the head, waking him up out of his trance like state.

"Ow! God damn- What was that for?" he screamed, as he snapped back to reality.

"For almost killing each other! You let your anger take over you too easily! And you could have destroyed a city block if I hadn't gone and snapped you two out of it! You ought to be thanking me!" she retorted, quite fed up with the bandana wearing DigiDestined. "I'll never understand why the hell someone like you ever got an Eye! I can already see from day one that you're nowhere near qualified for it. You'll probably flip out and kill every last goddamn one of us Bearers, not to mention your friends and your brother! Is that what you what, Minamoto? Huh? Answer me!" she screamed, finally managing to shut the young man up.

Eventually all that could be heard was the background noise of confused bystanders. A few people were glancing at them from a distance, some on their cellphones, others whispering as if they thought they might be heard. A few people began to get curious and come closer towards the group.

"Um, guys. We should probably get out of here. You know, before the cops show up?" Zoe interrupted, then interrupted. "Or the media?" she said, swearing she could hear the sound of camera flashes coming from the other side of the street. Mumbles of 'good idea' and 'let's get out of here' joined in. Eventually Kouji stopped and nodded his head in agreement with them.

"Okay. Let's scram."

"I know a good place where we can hide and talk. This way," the girl said coldly, moving her fingers along with her. Kouji followed immediately behind her, while the rest kept their distance. Zoe approached Kouichi, seeing him downcast.

"Hey, cheer up. We don't want you to go emo on us, Kouichi," Zoe muttered to her friend, when she realized something. "You aren't mad at your brother are you? About the whole almost killing you thing?"

"No, just... confused," he sighed. "It's all so strange... these Eyes. This whole saving the world thing. I know we've done it before, but... Things are different now, Zoe," he tried again. "And I just don't think I've completely accepted that yet."

"Hey, hey, it's not your fault, Kouichi. And besides, we're all still a bit confused. Aw heck, I can only imagine what Kouji must be going through right now," the blond confessed as she glanced towards her friend further towards the front of the group. And after a moments silence she continued. "You two are lucky you know. Having each other. Me and JP, we don't have brothers or sisters. We've never really experienced the joy of always having a brother to turn to, even if you might fight every now and then. It's a special bond. So don't mess it up, okay?"

He smiled.

"Yeah, you're right."

"Of course I am. Now let's hurry up or we'll get left behind."

"Right!"

Hearing them, Kaiya let a smile curl her lips up. And she walked on that way, hiding her tears.

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End Chapter

* * *

I started this chapter towards finishing the previous one, which is why this came so early.

I'll probably do a few of the sketches I keep promising you guys some time after the next chapter is done.

I won't be able to get all the characters, and I realize this.

So I'll post up characters sketches and group sketches as soon as I get done with the Savers/Data Squad Chapter.

For now I guess I'll have to leave you hanging.

PS: The outfit Takuya was described in is not my character sketch for him. I threw in something random because earlier in the chapter because I didn't want him running around Shibuya in a soccer uniform. So essentially what everyone's going to be wearing, come the fifth chapter, is completely different from whatever they may have been featured in in their respective chapters.

* * *

Next Chapter:

Form


	5. Chapter Four: Presence

Digital Crisis

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-Chapter Four-  
Presence

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_"Never trust the advice  
of a man in difficulties."_

Aesop (620 BC - 560 BC)

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"I don't see why not," Chief of Police, and former Commander Sampson of DATS said over the phone. "It's be a shame to let all that equipment go to waste. Besides, maybe some of it could help find a cure for Relena... Oh, it's not for her is it now? Anyways, the code is 34...90...87... Yes. Do you need any help moving it all out? Oh, I see. Well if you do, just give us a call and we'll be over there in a flash. Have a good day."

"Was that Thomas?" Megumi asked the chief.

"Yes. He was asking permission to move out the equipment from DATS headquarters before the construction crew would tear it down. He said he needed it for something important."

"Like what?" Miki inquired her boss.

"I didn't pry. But whatever it's for it's probably just research equipment. He said it wasn't for Relena. But he did say something about using it to help someone."

"With Thomas, you won't know until he tells you," Yoshino said. "Let's just drop it and let him do what he wants with that old junk," the officer said, hanging up her hat and sitting down at her desk. She pulled her feet up and yawned. It was going to be another long shift for this policewoman.

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**How much longer is it going to take? I can't stay in here forever, Thomas...**

The blond looked down at the words on his laptop's screen. He watched as the last of the equipment was unloaded into the basement of his family's mansion.

"They're already done. All I have to do is hook everything up. It should only take about an hour," he said to it.

**Don't you have any other games on here besides Sudoku? I mean, don't you at least have Tetris or something? Or Brick Breaker?**

"I'd rather spend my free time playing games that are healthy exercise for the brain than ones that will rot it, Marcus."

**Whatever. So you said it'll take you an hour to hook everything up right? How long is it going to take for you to get me here?**

"I won't be sure until I have everything set up."

**Oh well. Guess I'll just have to jump across town and see what Yoshi's up to. You said she's a policewoman now right?**

"That's all I know. She never said where she worked in the city though. I've been too caught up in my research for Relena..."

**No problem. Something tells me there aren't too many Yoshinos in the city that have pink hair and work for the police department. And with how loud she is, it should be easy finding her.**

"Marcus," he began, aggravated by the other.

But Marcus had already jumped from his laptop and into the city's network. There he probed around the records and found Yoshino's file. Then he jumped into the the police network and connected himself to the several security cameras around the fairly large building. After what felt like an eternity of careful examining, he found Yoshino at her assigned desk, and jumped into the computer through said camera.

"Eek!"

Yoshino felt a sudden buzzing through the wood of her desk, and fell backwards, terrified. Megumi and Miki paused their conversation about new hairstyles in the VOGUE magazine, having heard their fellow policewoman suddenly shriek and fall flat on her butt. They rushed over and asked what's wrong.

"My computer's haunted!"

Aa somewhat electronic and very familiar voice spoke up, **"Yes, this computer is haunted. And I'm the ghost of waffles. Of course this computer's not haunted! It's just me! Marcus! And finally, a computer that will let me talk! I don't get how it is I can't talk on Thomas's laptop, but I can on this piece of junk computer..."**

"Marcus?" Megumi asked, but her voice was overruled by Yoshino's.

"Marcus! You'd better not be reading my personal files!"

**"Cut me some slack Yoshino! It's hard enough for me to ride the network connections just between two devices! I'm not going to bother with some collection of phone numbers or awkward childhood pictures you hopefully put a password on to protect them!**" he yelled, lightly raising his voice. **"And anyways, I came here because I got bored. While Thomas is busy getting the stuff together in the next hour so he can beam me to Earth, I wanted to check in with you guys, see how things are going, ya know?"**

"I thought you were staying in the Digital World?" Yoshino asked him.

**"Well, I was. And other places... It's complicated. I'll tell you as soon as I get beamed down."**

"Why can't you tell us now?" Miki inquired.

**"I can't. It'll violate the contract I made..."**

"You? Contract? I'm stunned," Yoshino said, a hint of sarcasm laced in her voice for some reason.

**"Well, don't be. People can change a lot in two years Yoshi. You'll see why when I do get here..."**

"Didn't you say that you were here to check up on everybody?"

**"Yeah, wh-?"**

Suddenly she sped off, grabbed her hat and hopped into her patrol car. She backed away from the station and drove off and out of sight.

**"Well, that was unexpected..."**

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"Okay, if x equals 3, and 2x times the quantity 3 minus 7 is less than or equal to 13, is the statement true or false?" Kristy asked Keenan. The two were sitting down in their study hall period, outside on a table with a sun umbrella. Kristy was quizzing him for their math test tomorrow, which was going to count for a whole third of their semester grade. The darker haired of the two rubbed his temples, before slamming his head into his book.

"Oh come on! It can't be that hard! Here, I'll help you..."

Suddenly they heard the screams of other students, girl, boy, young, older, and in between as screeching tires and a patrol car came to a halt nearby. A pink haired officer they knew quite well leaped out of her driver's seat and towards them, a crazed look in her eyes.

"Yoshino, what-?"

Keenan was cut off as their much older friend grabbed them by the wrists and led them back to the car. Around them the uniformed students were talking to each other, confused or half scared from being almost run over in their school's courtyard. They figured the policewoman must have been on something either high in sugar or high in caffeine for her to have the gaul to plow through the metal gates and across grass and stone before finally stopping.

"Wait, where are you taking them, officer?" a middle aged woman with slightly grey hair, wearing a strange green sweater over a black skirt ran up to her in a pair of brown, flat shoes. Yoshino rolled down her window, and before taking off, flashed her badge and briefly explained.

"Lieutenant Fujieda Yoshino. I'm taking these children to the hospital. Their parents have been involved in a terrible accident and could die at any minute!"

Before the woman could say anything, Yoshino had sped off, leaving a trail of dust behind her. The woman readjusted her glasses and yelled.

"Alright then, everyone off to your classes! Move Move!"

She clapped her hands as the bell rang for the passing period. Immediately afterwards she went down to the teacher's lounge to get some hot tea.

"People these days," she sighed.

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"He hasn't said anything to you?" Kari and Davis asked in unison, seeing Kaiya pacing back and forth over and over again, constantly.

"The last time he checked in he said that he was stuck inside the AP leading from the Third World to our World. Marcus said his friend Thomas would be able to fix it, but that was four hours ago. By now I fear that I can no longer establish a connection between the two of us," she almost whispered.

"Is...?"

"That bad?" they said after each other.

"As long as he's stuck between the Worlds I'm afraid that our connection will not be solid. Occasionally I might be able to get a few words from him, but I'm not sure. This hasn't happened before."

"He can get out though, right? I mean, from what you've told us, it sounds like his friends will probably get him out," Kouji mused, leaning back against his favorite tree. Nearby Kouichi and Alice sat down at a table, and the girl sipped tea from a beautiful white cup, with gold trimmings surrounding the lip, shining brightly in the false sun covering the Bearers' world.

"I've never met them."

"But they sound like decent people. And didn't you say one of them was our age?" Kouichi asked her.

"Technically yes, but he's a genius, you see. He's only sixteen yet he has the brain of a computer programmer. That, and he's taller than all of us..."

"What difference does it make?" Alice said, setting down her cup, the wind ruffling her hair, to show a bit of her lacy black eye patch. As her hair settled, she continued. "Logically speaking, we should trust all of Marcus's friends, as we've grown to trust our own. It matters not whether we came from different Worlds, had different experiences with digimon, or went through traumatic times in our adventures, but that we're able to trust each other. Our minds and our hearts must be open to each other's, or else none of our Worlds will survive the battles about to come..."

"So you're saying that we don't really have a choice whether or not we want to trust them, right?"

Davis was surprised he could actually follow along with her for once. But he supposed it was just because he already knew what she was telling them. Years ago, back when Ken had just quite being the Digimon Emperor, he was ready to give him a chance, and he didn't really care whether or not the others weren't. He had seen how hard Ken had fought to make up for what he had done in the past, and that was all the proof he needed. Open minds... Open hearts... Alice was right. That was exactly how he was, and how he is today.

Kari looked over at her friend, and smiled, hearing his thoughts. He was right. Everyone has to be willing to trust one another, or how else would they get along? For a second, upon looking back, she felt like such a fool for being like TK and the others, for not trusting Ken to be a part of their team. It was especially hard for herself since she thought of how much pain Agumon had been through when the Ken, as the Digimon Emperor, had made him into a monster not just once, but twice. She used to think she could never forgive him. But today he was still their friend.

"Unless everyone here wants the Worlds to be destroyed, then no. We don't."

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"No way. Marcus, is that you?" Kristy asked, staring at the computer in a strange way.

**"Of course it's your older brother! You didn't think I'd let you enjoy being the only kid mom and dad have to put up with, did you?"**

"Marcus," Keenan began. "How'd you get turned into a computer?"

**"I'm not a computer! I'm just in it. I got stuck in the network connecting all electronic devices together because Thomas decided to move all the equipment just in time for me to reach the gate... I can jump into anything else I want to, but I'm using Yoshi's computer because it's the only one so far that I'm sure will let me talk to you guys. So,****"** he began again. **"How are things?"**

"Kristy was trying to kill my brain with math!"

"You were the one who didn't want to try the problem!" she retorted.

**"Keenan, you gotta learn to be a man and stick it out! There's not a man alive who's afraid of a math problem!"**

"You were pounding into walls when you couldn't do the problems," his sister reminded him.

**"At least I tried it!"** he replied, getting the others to laugh at his remarks. **"Ah, what's this? It seems Thomas would like me to get back. You guys head to his mansion and wait there for me, okay? There's something I have to go do..."**

He left without another word, and Yoshino's computer stopped its abnormal humming and buzzing. Although they didn't realize it, Marcus had, using one of the outside security cameras, projected an image of himself while no one to his left or right was looking his way. He walked off, heading towards his home, but not for the reason someone would think. Oh no, Marcus wasn't going to go see the rest of his family. Rather, there was something even more important he had to attend to.

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"Where is he?" Thomas muttered to himself, pacing around the lab, waiting for Marcus to return. It had already been eighteen minutes or so since he sent a message to Yoshino's computer, and still he hadn't come. It was strange. Marcus had the ability, for the moment, to warp himself between electronic devices, something no human should be able to do, even if they got themselves stuck between two worlds.

"Wait a second. Organic material and technology just doesn't work together without one interfering with the other. There's something Marcus isn't telling me..."

"Thomas, what's going on?"

Thomas recognized that voice.

"Yoshino?"

He turned to see Yoshino, Keenan, and Kristy standing at the door to the lab, curious expressions on their faces.

"What are you doing here? And where's Marcus?" he asked.

"We don't know. My brother just left Yoshino's computer when he told us we needed to wait for him here. There's no telling where he went," Kristy sighed.

"But since we're going to be waiting here a while, why don't you give us some answers?" the officer said, leaning against the exit, giving Thomas no other way out of the room.

"Fine," he said, and relaxed. "What do you want to know?"

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**"Hi there!"**

Marcus examined the stone wall, which was as high as his waist. Rain fell from the sky and stained it a dark grey color, but he could still remember the warmth of the sun on his back and blinding light of the summer sun in his eyes. Back then, this area was always filled with children, all his age, younger or older, all hanging out and having fun. He had a few friends, around his height, about seven, the age he was at the time. Now he could remember none of their names, and their voices and faces he had forgotten many years ago. All but one.

**"My name's Kaiya! What's yours?"**

He remembered her long black hair, her unusual blue eyes, and the most perfect smile he had ever seen on her cream colored face. She wore a white dress with pink ribbons, and had a white laced umbrella in a gloved hand, creating a shadow over her body, and shielding her from the hot August sun. She wore lacy white crew length socks and a pair of shiny, black shoes on her feet. She leapt down from the sand and giggled.

**"That's a funny name. I don't know anyone named Marcus..."**

He remembered smiling, laughing along with her. The other kids were gone, and it was just them by the edge of the playground. She stepped out of the sand, grabbed him by the hand and ran off, into a thicker part of the forest.

**"We're going to a secret place, silly! There's too many people over there that'll tell us what to do! I hate rules!"**

She had dragged him to an open clearing, and they were surrounded by a small field of snow white flowers. She picked some up, and threw them around. Then she picked something up, and put a crown of white flowers on top of his head. She picked up something else, and put a matching crown on her own head.

**"No one else knows about this place, so we can do whatever we want! We're like the king and queen and we can make this place our castle!"**

Marcus smiled, and in the present he picked up a single white flower, one of the few which hadn't been killed off by the cold approaching from the north. It fell apart in his hand, and its petals floated slowly to the ground, blowing away with a gust of wind. The Bearer closed his eyes and walked on, to the last place he could remember from that summer.

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"What do you mean he's not really here?" Kristy had asked.

"Although Marcus managed to get through to Earth, he isn't intact. Unfortunately his mind and body were separated from each other when he tried to get through this Access Point when it it was shut. It's hard to explain, and hard for me to understand, but one thing's for certain: if we don't restore Marcus with his body then there's no telling what could happen to him. At the very worst there's the possibility both halves of him could..."

"No! Don't say that! This is Marcus we're talking about! If he doesn't find a way, then we will! Or have you forgotten that?" Yoshino reminded him.

"She's right," a voice they didn't know spoke up.

They turned, seeing a dark haired girl with blue eyes staring at them. She was about Thomas's age, perhaps slightly older, but a few inches shorter than him. She was intangible, and her body would temporarily fade in and out.

"But no matter how strong he is physically, every time he uses this strength, his morality comes into question, along with how much of his humanity he will be able to hold onto..."

"What're you talking about?" Keenan asked her, finally having said something since arriving at the underground lab.

"My name is Oshima Kaiya, and I am a friend of Marcus's, just like all of you. Over the past two years of his absence here on your Earth, we have met again. The Eye within him activated, and it's my fault it happened. An Eye, you see, is a physical manifestation of either physical, spiritual, emotional, or psychological energy and is given to one of eight humans. As you've probably guessed, Marcus is one of them. Now as for Awakenings, they are a one-time synchronization between the Eye's Bearer and the Eye itself, and it will truly reveal the ultimate potential the Bearer will reach in his or her time of holding their Eye..."

"You said it was your fault Marcus had this Awakening thing. What did you do to my brother?" Kristy rather harshly exclaimed.

"As difficult it may be for you to believe, I died when Marcus was only six years old: ten years ago to this day. For the next eight years, he continued living, with no recollection of having met me at all. But when I met him in the Digital World almost two years ago, he remembered everything about that day. And he remembered that the only reason I died was so I could save him from that drunk driver's car..."

"That's horrible," Yoshino managed to say. Kaiya nodded, but went on.

"Let's just say Marcus didn't take it lightly. He panicked, screamed, and the next thing I know, I'm just outside a seven mile long crater, and the mountain range where King Drasil used to be was suddenly missing. Although it was pure psychological energy emitting from his body, it became physical, and destroyed everything within the seven mile radius. I'm thankful that there were no digimon close to the blast, but as soon as I woke up, I realized that Marcus would never be the same again. I mean, would you be if something like that happened to you...?"

Thomas looked down, and remembered when he lost his mother. But he couldn't even imagine how torn up inside Marcus must have been when he realized he was only living because this girl, Kaiya, died to protect him, and he didn't even remember it until his Awakening...

"No," he answered simply.

"All the more reason we have to reunite his mind with his body. If they are separated for too long, Marcus could either die, or the bottled up energy inside him could destroy the AP leading out of this World, isolating it forever, and Marcus will never regain what he lost all those years go..."

"What would that be?" Yoshino asked as the girl faded out.

"His sanity."

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"Do you think she'll be okay?" Kari and Davis asked the others.

Kouji had unplugged himself, as did his brother, leaving only Alice to accompany them.

"She is the First. The girl who became a digimon, and returned to her human form. The perfect example of human potential. She is well capable of defending herself, if there were a time in her former World which she would need to do such a thing," Alice said, as the table of tea cups and plates vanished, leaving a a blank patch on the grass.

Alice stood up as the chair vanished, and overhead appeared BurningGreymon. Running past her, back and forth, was Agunimon, and a figure completely on fire sat in a charred black tree. It cocked its head to her right and a white tear appeared where its mouth was supposed to be. It split wider, and soon a huge gap grew, forming a mouth. The fire around it grew sharp, giving an illusion of teeth. Red eyes briefly showed themselves as the figure burst into a large blaze, consuming the tree whole. The spirits soon vanished, and the sun disappeared from the sky, creating a world of night.

A pair of small wings, one half black, the other white, appeared on her back. Davis's and Kari's own wings appeared, still pure.

"But like us, she will eventually lose these, and along with them, the last remaining shred of humanity she has managed to retain in these past few years," she reminded them. "It is our destiny. You two are fortunate. Normally from the moment a Bearer has his or her Awakening, their sanity will slip, and along with it, every last part of them that psychologically deems them human. But your Eyes connected your minds together, making them whole, and impervious to such damage. As for us, we will die out, and all that would be left would be a rotting corpse, with no mind or spirit to give it the spark of life."

"Does it have to be that way? Who said you have to die?" Kari asked, Davis keeping the same thing in mind.

As their wings vanished, Alice answered, "No one said so. But we all know it is going to happen. And now you two know."

"But why are you telling us this?" Davis spoke up.

"Because when we die, all memory of us will vanish, just as it has with Kaiya. Our friends, our family, anyone that ever met or saw us will forget we ever existed in our Worlds. The Bearers will be the only ones who remember. So when we die, we want you to carry on our memories. That way, we will not truly be forgotten. And there will be proof of our existence," the blond continued.

"I can't accept something like that! And you guys shouldn't either! We all had teammates. And they were the best friends we could ever ask for. Best friends never forget each other. Even if we die, someone will remember. Someone will speak up, and they'll say we were real. I just know it," the wild haired Bearer shot back, unable to believe that his friends would forget him when he died.

"When I said we were going to die... I actually meant everyone but you two."

"What do you mean by that?" Kari asked.

Alice finally looked up, and told them everything they deserved to know.

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"Are you sure that you know where we're going?" Yoshino asked Kaiya as the two barreled down a cobblestone road and back onto a suburban road. She almost missed the turn, and had to veer a hard left just as Kaiya gave her the signal. "Seriously! It would help if you could remember faster!"

"There isn't much I can do about it. I'll remind you that I haven't been on this World since I died over ten years ago. My memory is still fuzzy, and things have changed. I remember there used to be a field where that baseball diamond is now... Turn right at this next fork."

"A lot can change in ten years. Don't you know that?" she replied.

"People change too Yoshino. And it is people who affect everything around them. Just as they have affected their world and the Digital World in ways more negative than positive."

As Yoshino saw the landmark, she stopped and got out. The officer let the dark haired adolescent out of the back seat, but mere seconds afterwards the girl sped off through the trees. For a few moments Yoshino stood still, until it finally registered in her brain that she needed to follow her. She ran off as quickly as she could, in some slim hope of retaining sight of Kaiya.

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"You didn't have to come here."

"I'm your friend, Marcus. I won't leave you like this," Kaiya said confidently.

"It's fine. We both know I'll expire in about a month," he replied coldly, plucking a white flower from the ground. The wind carried its petals off into the distance. Dropping the stem, the Bearer turned and continued. "Or was it sixty days? I can't really remember that well. Although it does depend on how efficiently I use my energy now, doesn't it?"

"Marcus," she pleaded. "What happened to you?"

"Let's see. First off it's my fault someone died, and I don't even remember it until two years ago. And when I do remember, the next thing I know an entire mountain range is blown off the face of the Digital World. Then my soul becomes warped by the presence of a digimon spirit in my body. Oh, and let's not forget that by the time I die, I won't even be human anymore!"

"Marcus..."

"Kaiya... you were right when you said it would be better off if I died as soon as possible. Even now I can feel my sanity slip away. As Bearers we are tied to several Worlds at the same time, to connect the DigiDestined together... but at the price of our shortened lifetime. And since I now possess two Eyes, my life has been drastically shortened to a few months," he said gravely, as both his eyes glowed a goldenrod sort of yellow. His pupils shrunk and his highlights disappeared. He looked up again. "I'm going to die soon. There's no doubting it."

"You're not the only one with a short lifetime, Marcus. The Tamer? Takato? From his Awakening's destructive power I knew that he would only live as long as you would..."

"You actually saw it?" he asked, eyes normal once more. "His Awakening?"

"Yes, but I never told him or Alice. It was terrible, Marcus. Thousands of digimon were killed in the blast, and the entire lower plane of the Tamers' Digital World was destroyed. If I heard correctly from the Digimon Sovereign, they are still very upset about it. But they don't blame him. I already told them it was my fault for bringing the Eyes into contact with humanity... My only regret now is that I won't be able to die along with you... But then again, I'm already dead, now aren't I?"

"You're what?" a voice cried.

Yoshino stood nearby, between two trees. The officer walked forward, a confused look on her face.

"I don't get it... You're dead? But how is that possible?"

"I passed away a few years after Marcus's father left for the Digital World. He was about six years old at the time. A careless driver barreled down the road and almost hit Marcus. When I pushed him aside, I was hit instead, and my body separated from my mind and spirit. Since that area was a weak point between the Digital World and Earth, I was sucked through to the other side of the digital gate. There I possessed Lilithmon: the closest digimon to the weak point at the time. My mind overwhelmed hers, and soon enough she had become a replica of my own being."

"What happened to your real body?" Yoshino asked.

"It was buried in a private cemetery. I belonged to a noble family, so my parents were disgusted at the idea of my body being buried among the 'common people'. By now it has probably decayed, to the point of being nothing but bones."

They were silent for a few moments.

"I'll go start up the car," Yoshino whispered, and ran off in the same direction she had come.

Eventually Marcus spoke again.

"Why us?"

"Excuse me?" Kaiya said.

"Why did we have to be the ones to suffer like this? Why did we have to be the ones to use these Eyes?" he wondered aloud.

"DNA compatibility. Each of the Eyes requires a very specific DNA combination in order to function correctly. We were just unlucky to be picked," she said softly.

"I know that... it's just... who made these things? And for what purpose?"

"To save the four Worlds, of course. I thought you already knew that," she said.

"It feels like there's something more to it. Something someone's just not telling us," he replied. At this, Kaiya looked towards the ground, a hint of guilt on her face. "I don't know. I guess I'm just a little paranoid or something. Or maybe... I suppose I just want to know everything I can about these Eyes. I only have a month or so left to live... I want to make good use of my time."

"Don't we all?"

Kaiya turned at that voice.

"Takato... how much did you hear?"

"Enough. I can't believe you'd hold out on me like that. Why, Kaiya? Why didn't you say something earlier?" he asked, but didn't give her a chance to answer. "Is it because this is all a game to you? Do you like watching humans suffer at the hands of fate? Or is there something more to it?" he continued, as the Eye under his patch glowed red. "Do you get a thrill out of the sacrifices we make, and the things we lose?"

"I wanted you to be happy," she said. Takato backed off, and shot her a confused look. "I didn't want you to live out the rest of your days, suffering because you knew what was going to happen to you. I wanted you to live out the rest of your life with your friends, and Jeri. I wanted you to be happy when you died."

He laughed.

"We both know I can never be happy again. That everything I do conveys no true emotion. I act upon what I remember my feelings to be, before I became a Bearer. Nothing more. Nothing less," he said, and turned away, walking back into darkness. "I'm a Bearer of Hearts. Which means that as a price for my deadly powers, my emotions, or rather, my heart, will have to be sacrificed. But apparently you haven't grasped that concept yet..."

Silence came once more.

"This is all my fault. If I'd known all this suffering was going to happen, I never would have tried to find you. And now Takato's..."

"It's not your fault," he reassured her. "Trust me. When you hang around the DigiDestined, bad things are always going to happen to someone. Now let's go back. Yoshino's waiting for us."

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"Well this day just keeps getting interesting," Thomas said, when he saw the transparent form of Marcus.

"Well laugh it up while you can. As soon as I get my body back, I'm going to kick your-"

"Anyways, Thomas," Kaiya cut Marcus off. "Exactly how far have you gotten?"

"Far enough. The machine's powering up as we speak. It should only be a few more minutes until it's ready..."

"Very well. Marcus, as soon as it powers up, go through and claim your body. With the AP open this way, it won't close with a Bearer's will. While it is open, anything from the Digital World could come through... It would be wise if you hurried."

"What's so bad about a stray digimon or two coming through the gate?" Yoshino said.

"I'm opening the gate! Get ready!"

They turned, just as a flash of data erupted from the platform, and a sudden pair of giant, beetle-like scissors appeared from the portal. A head appeared, revealing Kuwagamon. The Insectoid digimon made its screeching roar as it climbed through.

"Pepper Breath!"

Just as it approached the nearest wall a fireball was shot at the back of its head, catching the creature's attention. Recognizing the flames, Marcus turned and smiled, seeing a familiar yellow dinosaur grinning right back at him.

"Boss! You're okay!"

"Agumon! Does that mean-"

Thomas cut himself off, seeing a familiar blue, furry digimon with red gloves. Gaomon, noticing his partner, nodded, then jumped in the air.

"Rolling Upper!"

"Seed Blast!"

He connected his fist directly with the side of the beetle's head, and not a few seconds afterwards a barrage of brown specks shot the digimon square in the face.

"Yoshino!" cried a pink and green digimon upon seeing the young policewoman.

"Agumon, do you think you guys can hold off bug-face?" Marcus shouted as he darted towards the portal.

"Sure thing, boss! You can count on us!" he replied, and with a smile Marcus vanished through.

"Everyone, let's hit him together!" Gaomon cried.

"Double Backhand!"

"Lala Spiral!"

"Pepper Breath!"

The three attacks hit one by one. Using the opportunity, Thomas grabbed his digi-vice and shouted, "Gaomon!"

Immediately the digimon understood, and leapt backwards to the side of his partner.

"DNA Charge!"

"Gaomon digivolve to... Gaogamon!"

"Aim for the head! That's it's weak point!" Kaiya shouted as the scissors chopped a foot from her head.

"Gaogamon!" Thomas said, turning to his digimon partner.

"Sir yes sir! Spiral Blow!"

The beetle roared, and stepped back. All of a sudden Yoshino noticed the young girl collapse onto one knee, clutching the right side of her face in pain. She put her hands on the adolescent's shoulders and asked her, "Are you okay?"

"Miss Oshima! We were worried!" a familiar voice cried. Keenan raised his head and smiled, teary-eyed.

"Falcomon!"

"Keenan!" the bird digimon cried, and ran to his partner. "Oh I was so worried about you! My how you've grown! All of you," he exclaimed, soon noticing a much older Kristy, and eventually Yoshino's longer hair and matured features. "Yoshino! You look so different! You've grown into such the fine woman since we left!"

"Not exactly the time for reunions, but... Kristy!" yet another voice said, as in the background Thomas pointed, and Gaogamon attacked the Kuwagamon with Dash Double Claw. As the creature roared and slashed out, Biyomon was embraced by his partner. "Gah! You're taller than me now!"

"Oh Biyomon!"

"In case none of you have noticed, your friend over there is being attacked by a giant bug!" Kaiya shouted at them.

The two bird digimon nodded to each other and flew over to join Agumon and Lalamon.

"Hey guys! Glad you could join the party! This is one tough beetle!" Agumon exclaimed happily.

"Birds of a feather flock together!" they said in unison, and laughed before reaching a fighting stance.

"Let's hit it again! All together!" Thomas cried out to them.

"Spitfire Blast!"

"Ninja Blade!"

"Seed Blast!"

"Spiral Twister!"

"Spiral Blow!"

The five different colored blasts impacted on the Kuwagamon's head, but when the smoke cleared, it revealed a larger, grey colored beetle with red markings and standing on two sets of legs. Its large pincers snipped loudly, and its large scissors clacked against each other.

"It got bigger!" Yoshino cried in disbelief.

"Ew! What is that thing?" Kristy asked, a slight tone of disgust in her voice.

"That thing is Okuwamon. It's an Ultimate level digimon, and the evolved form of Kuwagamon. It can dig underground to ambush you and uses its antenna as a radar. And be careful. It's not exactly one of the more pleasant digimon in the Digital World," Kaiya explained. Thomas glanced down at the information he was reading on the Okuwamon, his face struck with disbelief. She just said, off-hand, exactly what he saw in the digivice's memory.

The creature roared, and prepared to attack.

"Yo ugly!"

Okuwamon, as well as the rest of the group, turned to see Marcus standing in front of the portal, in solid form. A triumphant grin was on his face, as if he had already won the battle. He opened his mouth again and shouted, "Do you think you're strong enough to take me on? Or are you just gonna fly home, crying to mama?"

It roared, as if angered at him. It charged, and as the others immediately cried out in worry, the young man leaped in the air, grabbed the digimon by the wing, and threw it into the wall opposite him. Everyone but Kaiya watched in disbelief as the digimon was sent flying into the concrete with a loud, explosion-like noise. Rubble fell all around it as it got up, scratched and bruised all over. And the wing that Marcus had grabbed it by seemed ready to fall off. The teen leaped off the platform, landing next to Thomas.

"Marcus, how-?"

"When I said I got stronger, Thomas, I wasn't lying," he briefly explained.

"What you just did... that's physically impossible for any human! No matter how strong they may be!"

"I'm not just any human. Remember? I'm Marcus Damon! The Ultimate Fighter!" he said, pointing to himself.

I guess some things never change, Thomas thought with a smile.

"Well in that case, I'm glad you're on our side..."

He nodded, and upon hearing the Okuwamon roar, frowned.

"Thomas?"

"Yes, Marcus?"

"I want you to get everyone outside. Right now."

"Why?"

"Just do it, okay!" he shouted.

Baffled, though compliant, Thomas nervously nodded, and beckoned for Gaogamon to follow. The digimon trailed after him, but before Okuwamon could attack, Marcus ran forward, and with the others clearing out, punched the beetle square in the abdomen. It roared in pain and crashed through the wall, tumbling outside and onto grass. The teen dashed up the pile of rubble leading outside and turned, kicking the creature in the side, sending it tumbling down a nearby hill. At the same time, the others had made their way out of the house to watch this astounding event happen. Each one of them, still excluding Kaiya, and the digimon as well, were speechless.

When had Marcus become so strong?

The fighter turned, and waved at his companions. Kaiya reluctantly began to smile, until she saw a grey form rising up behind her friend.

"Marcus! Behind you!" she screeched.

He turned, eyes yellow, and raised his hand as a beam of energy began to develop into a sphere. He released, and a beam of orange light consumed the digimon whole. When the light vanished, and the remaining smoke finally cleared, Okuwamon had vanished. Perhaps disintegrated in the blast. Gaogamon returned to Gaomon and faced Thomas.

"I believe a few explanations are in order..."

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"So you're saying that when you met her in the Digital World, you freaked, destroyed a few mountains by accident, got stronger, and somehow gained a second personality? Is that it or am I missing anything?" Yoshino asked them.

"Boss can also shoot lasers from his hands and run really fast!" Agumon added.

"And he can shoot lasers and run really fast," Yoshino dragged out, emphasizing on and. She didn't sound very pleased.

"How is that possible?" Thomas continued.

"The Eyes," Kaiya replied. "They're physical manifestations that exist within only eight humans in totality. When a Bearer's Eye is activated under completely necessary circumstances, they gain immense power or ability. But at the same time, each Bearer is affected in a negative way... at least... most of them are... Anyways, as a price for Marcus's immense strength and speed, as well as his unusual power, he was forced to share his body with the essence of a digimon I once shared bodies with."

"Her name's Lilithmon. But her mind got overwritten when Kaiya took control of her body. So now she's like a second Kaiya, only living in my head. She'll come out whenever I need her to, or whenever I lose control of my emotions. You can tell it's her in control when my eyes turn red. Watch."

His eyes turned red on cue, and he spoke again.

"And when I am finished using Marcus's body, I will surrender control, and his eyes will either become yellow, or return to normal again," Lilithmon spoke, in a voice slightly higher than Marcus's. His eyes closed, and when opened, became their usual shade of green. He stood up and spoke again.

"I need to ask you guys something... and it's okay if you say no, just so it's fair..."

"Whatever it is, I'm sure we'll all be glad to help," Yoshino replied, and seconds later several nods complied.

"I need your help. Our world... everyone and everything in it... could all be destroyed in about a month. We don't know who's responsible, and we don't know why they're doing it... but someone is trying to destroy the barriers separating our world from the three others. And if that happens," he said, unable to speak the last few words.

"All of humankind could come to an end," Thomas realized. Marcus nodded, proving him right.

"That's why the six of us are going to fight for Earth," he said, referring to the humans.

"Wait? Six?" Kristy said, confused.

"Yeah. Don't you want to come with us, Kristy?" her older broter asked.

"Really!" she said, excited. "I get to go with you this time?"

"Biyomon refused to go anywhere if you weren't with him," Marcus said, a hint of laughter in his voice.

"Oh Marcus! Thank you so much! You have no idea what that means to me!" his sister replied, hugging him around the waist. A warm smile came to their faces, and Kristy began to cry.

"Hang on. Your brother's not done yet," Kaiya interrupted. "We're not the only ones who are going to fight. There's other kids, just like us, who want to help. They're called DigiDestined, and they want to protect their worlds, too. We're all going to meet up, and plan our way of entering a whole other world."

"How many of them?" Keenan asked.

"At least twenty. And all together, that makes us twenty-nine strong. Since we would probably spend the next four weeks in each other's company, I figured we should spend a few hours getting to know each other," she replied as if it was nothing.

"We need to get to know about twenty people in only a few hours?" Yoshino replied. "We'd need at least a week to really get know at least one person, let alone twenty," Yoshino stated, in a rather whiney fashion.

"I never said it was going to be easy," she replied.

"Nothing's ever easy for us," Kristy reminded her.

"Yes, well... I suppose it is about time I allow you all to leave. In 24 hours we will have to leave, so I would like you all to say your goodbyes to your friends and family. After what I've done, it's the least I could do for all of you..."

As they began to file out the door, Kristy looked back to see her brother turn and face Kaiya. The Bearer's sister shut the door, listening from the other side.

"Marcus, I got the results from your analysis a week ago..."

"And?"

"According to my data, you have only thirty days left to live... I'm so sorry."

Kristy backed away, and, confused, spoke to herself.

"He's... going to die...? No. No! She's got to be lying..."

She listened in further.

"It's alright. It's not your fault. None of this is. I've just been careless these last two years. I had it coming the day I Woke. And, in the end, I suppose none of us has any power over death. For the Bearers, it's just a matter of will to keep from killing ourselves until that day arrives..."

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End Chapter

* * *

I apologize profusely for all my excuses and delays. It's been months since I last posted anything from the Digital Crisis story. Which is why I took the liberty of getting a head-start on the next chapter before completing this one. If you're still hanging on, don't worry. I promise to deliver the final chapter (as well as a few sketches) in due time.

Thank you very much, and I hope to see you again soon!

* * *

Next Chapter:

Meeting


	6. Chapter Five: Meeting

Digital Crisis

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-Chapter Five-  
Meeting

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_"The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand,  
nor the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship;  
it's the spiritual inspiration that comes to one  
when he discovers that someone else believes in him  
and is willing to trust him with his friend."_

-Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

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It was almost unnerving the way that Izzy and Davis worked on the Access Point. The genius would type in several lines of code Davis would say to him. Kari explained just moments after that someone they knew was temporarily controlling Davis to help them connect to the white world.

"What's the white world?" Sora asked.

Davis's temporarily blue eyes shone briefly as he turned, and explained.

"It is a place only the Bearers can reach in becoming unconscious. A dream world just for us. We can speak with each other, even though we are all on separate worlds. For instance, I exist on an Earth where humans once tried to exterminate the digimon out of their own paranoia. And this almost led to their destruction, if not for a few special humans..."

"You mean like DigiDestined?" Cody said to the girl in Davis's body.

"In a way, yes. They have digivices, digimon partners, and saved their world, as well as their Digital World. The only difference is that they came into contact with digimon by their own ability; not because some higher power led them to it," she replied.

"What about these two other worlds? Our Earth counts as one, and you just explained a second one. What about the other two?" Joe wondered.

"One of the two contains humans not known as DigiDestined, but rather as Digimon Tamers. The human partner is known as a Tamer, and powers up their digimon using cards from a digimon card game that was popularized on that planet. Their Digital World is structured in planes. Their long-time enemy, known as the D-Reaper, was buried underneath the lowest layer of the Digital World, and its most powerful digimon, the Digimon Sovereign, have their own quadrant atop the highest plane."

When he was about to speak up, and ask about the final one, Davis's mouth already opened.

"The final world mentioned contains DigiDestined, but these six children never received digimon partners. Rather, they received the spirits of ancient warrior digimon known in their Digital World as the Ten Legendary Warriors: a group of ten digimon who fought the evil Lucemon and imprisoned him within the core of the Digital World, supposedly for all eternity. These DigiDestined fought Lucemon, defeated him, and returned to Earth, and since then have not had any contact with digimon whatsoever."

"They're the only ones who never saw digimon again?" Matt said, unbelieving.

"No," Kari said this time, and nodded to Davis, who continued his work with Izzy. "One of the Digimon Tamers, Takato, the guy who met us two days ago, he was with his digimon for the last five years on his Earth. But because of a promise he made, he couldn't let any of his friends know that there was a way to get to the Digital World," she said sadly.

"What? Why would he do something like that?" Yolei spoke up.

"He wanted to protect them. When the D-Reaper thing got loose, it deleted almost everything in the Digital World. For the last five years it was dangerous, and when Takato found that out, he knew he couldn't put his friends in danger. He made a promise to the Digimon Sovereign that he would help repair the Digital World, but only if he never told any of his friends there was a way to get to the Digital World."

"It doesn't sound like everything worked out," Ken said, noticing the sadness in her voice.

"It didn't. Almost two years ago, Takato's Eye Woke. After that, he slowly began to wither away. He couldn't feel emotion. He could only care for his friends because of what he remembered they were like, and what they shared together. And now, he doesn't even care that he's going to die in a few months..."

"But why?" TK said, confused. "Is it because of the Eye?"

Kari paused a moment, remembering the conversation with Alice last night.

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"When I said we were going to die... I actually meant everyone but you two."

"What do you mean by that?" Kari asked.

"Almost two years ago, Takato and I had just finished up on a mission. We returned to the central dome on the highest plane of the Digital World. There the Digimon Sovereign would meet, and discuss the fate of the Digital World..."

_"We walked in while Zhuqiaomon was in the middle of a rant, saying how Takato and I were eventually going to turn on them, just like Takato did his friends. Takato heard his words, and realized he was right. He had betrayed his friends. I didn't know why, but all of a sudden Takato began to scream in pain, clutching his head, thrashing about on the ground. His eyes glowed blood red and tears ran down his cheeks. Red energy built up around him, and exploded, just as I transported the two of us to the lowest plane of the Digital World, to protect the Sovereign. But that plane was also one of the more populated ones. Thousands of digimon were killed in the blast, and the entire lower plane was completely destroyed..."_

"Since that day Takato had lost all emotion. Inside, he was suffering, and couldn't feel the emotional pain, because he had no emotions to speak of. I myself never understood it though, until the day my own Eye Woke. I realized then and there that no matter what, all Bearers were doomed to some sort of suffering, and that's why I'm afraid for you two. Even though you never suffered any sort of pain during your Awakenings, eventually your Eyes will wreak havoc on either your mind, body, spirit, or heart. I can't imagine what's going to happen to you and those other two Bearers..."

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Eventually Kari gave him her answer.

"No. No one knows."

On the other side of the room, Davis clutched his hand tight, and continued his work. Briefly noticing this, Izzy wondered what happened during their conversation with that Alice girl they were so fond of. He hit the Enter key and turned in the wheeled chair.

"Alright. We just finished entering the coordinates. Is everyone ready?"

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"I can't believe it," Rika mused, before sipping from a soda can Ryo brought her.

"Can't believe what?" the Tamer asked, hearing her.

"Any of this. It's just... so confusing..."

"What I don't get is how Takato's so cold. He hasn't smiled in days. And he keeps talking like he's a robot," Kenta said, turning to watch Takato talk with Alice nearby as they reconfigured the portal. The glasses-wearing Tamer sighed. "Any guesses, guys?"

"I bet it's the Eye," Henry said. "When Alice and Takato talked about them, they said that your mind could end up being destroyed, even if you could handle it..."

Alice decided not to tell them about what happened when he confronted Kaiya about the next phase of the plan. Being his companion Bearer, she had heard everything he had. She looked on for a moment, and continued her work with Takato.

"Who cares?" Kazu replied, leaning back on the grass as he did. "Takato's back. Everyone's safe. And we're going to go save the world. Everything's a-okay..."

"No it's not! I know Takato, and he's definitely not okay," Jeri said, dragging Kazu up by the back of his shirt so he was sitting up straight. "Yesterday, Takato told me the only reason he could smile was because he remembered I could make him happy. Not because I did."

"What do you mean?" he asked her, obviously confused.

"She's saying that Takato doesn't have any more feelings. For any of us," Ryo explained briefly. "He only pretends to because he remembers how he interacted with us. Takato's acting only on memory. And sooner or later, the poor guy might end up killing himself over it..."

"Don't be so negative," Rika said, nudging the Digimon King in the ribcage. "Anything can happen these days. Who knows? Maybe Takato can get his heart back... somehow..."

Bits of white data poured out of the small building.

"Yeah. That's right. We've had plenty of miracles... like the time Takato and Guilmon first turned into Gallantmon," Kenta said. "Or the time Beelzemon tapped into Leomon's powers to try and rescue Jeri from the D-Reaper..."

"Or the time Kazu learned the difference between desert and dessert," Rika added, and soon everyone, minus Kazu, who was slightly offended, began to laugh.

"They're worried about you," Alice said briefly to Takato.

"They shouldn't. You can't really care for someone who never feels anything towards you in return," he said. "At this rate, I'll be cut off from the rest of the world... I'm going to die alone... I just know it..."

"Takato, you have good friends. Through all of your struggles together you have bettered yourselves. When the time comes, I hope you realize that death is not the only way out of your suffering," the blond said, and opened the gate. "It's time." she said.

"It's strange. I always thought that the end of the world would come while I was still alive. I guess I'll never be able to see it after all..."

Hearing him, Jeri quieted her laughter. She hid her tears from the others. She knew she couldn't cry now. She had to be strong. If they ever had any hope of saving the world, she would have to be strong. For everyone. And especially Takato.

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"I don't like this, guys," Tommy said as they rode down the elevator to the old station Lucemon had destroyed when trying to come to Earth. Looking out the glass shaft, they could see that it was fully intact, yet there wasn't a train in sight.

"Well we can't just wait around for that girl to come back," Kouji told him. "Besides, this is our best bet of getting to that white world place anyways. Before she left she said that the Access Point was down here..."

"Where are all the trains?" Zoe said, confused. She wondered if the Trailmon couldn't get to Earth after how badly Lucemon had torn apart the Digital World. The station was deserted, and nothing was around except them and the barren tracks.

JP climbed down onto the rails to get a closer look.

"Everything looks new. Maybe the station just isn't open yet?"

"I don't think anyone knows all of this was rebuilt but us," Kouichi half whispered, looking up towards the elevator shaft.

"That's impossible. Who else do you think could have put these new tracks in? A digimon?" JP replied to the twin's comment.

"JP's right. There's no way a digimon could have gotten here to Earth. We saw the gate close ourselves. We're just wasting our time here," Kouji finally said, and began to walk away. The others exchanged unsure glances for a few moments as the longer haired of the twins began to walk back towards the elevator.

Then there was a faint rumbling, too soft for many ordinary humans to pick up. But to Takuya it felt like a herd of wild animals, stampeding in their direction. Metallic scraping rang in his eardrums, and light flashed in his eyes. Realizing what was going on, he leaped towards the tracks, grabbed JP by the shirt, and leaped out the other side, just as a black Trailmon with a red eye on the front and two on each side came barreling backwards into the station at full speed. At the commotion the others turned, shocked to see a Trailmon where JP once was, JP on the ground nearby, and Takuya approaching the Trailmon.

"Long time no see kid."

"Yeah, tell me about it."

"You know each other?" Zoe asked hesitantly, just as unsure as the others right now.

"Yeah. We met before I came back to the Digital World to recuse you guys..."

"Came back?" the five asked, now more confused than ever.

"Didn't I tell you? After Duskmon attacked, I wound up in the middle of the Dark Terminal. I didn't know what to do, and I had no clue what happened to you guys. I was pretty upset to the point where I actually just wanted to give it all up and go home. DarkTrailmon helped me find myself again, when I thought everything was over. I guess I still owe him after that, huh?" he said, becoming embarrassed for a slight moment as he turned back towards the Trailmon.

"Don't mention it. I was just doing my job. Now I hear that you need a ride?" DarkTrailmon said, referring to the whole group.

"You mean you can take us to that white world place?" Tommy asked him.

"Sure. I'm ready when you are," he said, and a door opened on the closest car to them.

"Come on, let's go," Zoe said, holding Takuya's hand.

He nodded just barely, and entered the car for one final ride. As the others began to file in, Kouji held Kouichi back for a moment.

"Kouichi, about what happened the other day..."

"Don't worry about it. I'm fine," he replied, referring to Kouji attacking him.

"No, before that... What I said... I was out of line... I just... y'know... hope you're not mad at me or anything," he said hesitantly.

"I wouldn't dream of it."

"Guys, come on!" JP called as he stepped onto the car.

The two brothers smiled at each other and joined the rest of their friends. DarkTrailmon closed his doors and started his engine.

And the DigiDestined were on their way.

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"You sure?"

"Ninety nine percent," Thomas replied. "I'm going to start-"

"Check it again," Kaiya said, irritated.

"I already checked it. How many times do you need me to-?"

"Until you're a hundred percent sure that today's disaster doesn't happen again," she replied. "The last thing I need is for the only protectors from this World to be eaten by some other giant red beetle. So check it again!"

"Great, there she goes again. I thought I already told the egg-head that once you piss her off, she's never going to let it go," Marcus commented.

"Boss, I thought you said she was a nice lady!" Agumon half-complained.

"Once you get to know her, yeah, she can be. I've gotta say though, she's nothing like how she was ten years ago... I'm a little curious as to what happened while we were separated. She still hasn't said a word of it..."

"I can't imagine why," Yoshino spoke with sarcasm. "By the way. What were the two of you doing for the last two years? There aren't a lot of movie theaters or outlet malls in the Digital World, last time I checked. I'm surprised you haven't completely destroyed it out of sheer boredom."

"By now, I thought I would have gone insane. I'm glad we didn't or Earth would be toast right now, too."

"Yeah, what with that laser thing from your hands... how did you do that anyways?" she asked, still curious.

"It's complicated. What experience do you have with quantum physics?" he replied.

"Uh..."

"Thought so," he said, a small chuckle escaping him.

"Now that all the checks are completed," Thomas began, but then stopped Kaiya from interrupting him, "And I am 100 percent sure that it will be successful, it's about time that we get going."

"Before we do, a word of caution: realize that even though you will be in the company of others like you, I cannot assure your safety. If you have any doubts, even the smallest, either leave them here or don't come at all. We're on a mission to a world that no one on either of our worlds has ever seen. You can get killed. Are you prepared to take such a risk? Even to save all of human existence? If you would like to stay, I can't blame you..."

"Everyone's going," Kristy said boldly, catching her attention. "We have to. I want to be strong. To protect everyone I love. I'm going," she decided.

"Such a brave girl," Hawkmon said in awe. "You're lucky she's your partner," he said to Biyomon, who nodded.

"I guess it's settled, then," Yoshino said. "I'm going. How 'bout you, Keenan?" she asked, glancing towards the boy, now changed out of his uniform like Kristy.

"I'm going. I want to help. Thomas? What about you?"

Marcus glared daggers into the genius, who half-heartedly laughed to himself before speaking up again, "Of course. Someone needs to keep Marcus from walking off cliffs and such."

"Hey!"

"Alright. Let's go," Kaiya continued. "We wouldn't want to be late."

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Mimi looked sighed in awe at the very size of the room they wound up in. Or rather, if you could call it a room. They were clearly on some white floor, which was solid like the ground back on Earth. But that left a huge white space above them. Bits and pieces of data flowed back and forth every once in a while, at the edges of the world they were now in. As the rest of the DigiDestined and their digimon entered the space through the Access Point, they looked around to see no one was here.

"Now what?" Patamon said out loud, but much to happily for the situation.

"We wait," Davis and Kari both said at the same time, and sat down a few feet away, watched closely by their digimon partners.

"Could you guys quit it with that talking at the same time thing? You're giving me goosebumps," Joe complained.

"Can't help it. We always talk like this when we come here," they replied.

"Always? You mean you were here before? How?" Sora asked, and Kari answered first, to be continued by Davis, and so on.

"When we fall asleep..."

"Or get knocked out..."

"We end up here with the others..."

"After all, this is..."

"Our World..."

"World?" Ken repeated, but was suddenly cut off as a train with red eyes on the side came rushing through mere feet away from Davis and Kari. A door flew open, and out jumped six teenagers and a kid who looked to be about as old as Cody. The one with wild brown hair and a goofy grin got up first and waved towards the strange train as it began to vanish, at first completely oblivious to the others.

"Thanks DarkTrailmon! We really appreciate it!"

"Don't mention it!" the fading digimon said as its voice vanished too.

"You guys okay? He didn't run anyone over did he?" the same teen asked the group, now seeming oblivious to his friends as he took a good look at where the Trailmon had run just moments ago before turning around again.

"Every hair seems to be in place," Yolei replied, glancing briefly at her shoulders for damage control.

"Thanks for helping me up," a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes said, leaning on his shoulder for support.

"Sorry Zoe. I just..."

"Relax. I know you're always worried about other people. But it would be appreciated if you helped me up, too," she said, straightening as she dusted off the black, footless tights under her light purple dress, then fixing the beret on her head. The girl leaned into him, and planted a kiss on his cheek. The DigiDestined not familiar with these six quickly realized the blonde and brunette were boyfriend and girlfriend.

"Sorry about that everyone," Kouji apologized. "Takuya here's just not very good with giving directions."

"Hey!"

"He's right, you know," the blonde said to her boyfriend.

"Who... are you guys?" Matt managed to ask.

"Like bandana boy over there just said, I'm Takuya Kanbara. This is my girlfriend, Izumi Orimoto."

"Hi. Nice to meet you," she said with a warm smile. "But you guys can call me Zoe. Behind me's Junpei Shibaya, the taller one, but we call him JP. This little guy's Tomoki Himi, but we call him Tommy. And over there's Kouji Minamoto, the guy who just insulted Takuya..."

"Sorry."

"I think we need to work on your manners a little more," the shorter haired of the two said.

"And that's Kouichi Kimura. He's Kouji's twin in case you guys noticed, but they're half brothers right now."

"Hi," Davis and Kari greeted them. Their Eyes were revealed as they stood up together and walked forward to the two twins. All four were at equal height by the time Kouji's and Kouichi's Eyes appeared too. "Have you guys heard from Kaiya yet?"

In walked a brown haired teen, clad in a black leather jacket, black pants, heavy boots of the same color, and a blue undershirt hidden underneath since the jacket was closed by its belt. His hair was parted to his left, hiding his left eye. From what they could see, he was not wearing his eye patch. The DigiDestined with digimon partners recognized him, as did Kouji and Kouichi, but the others were left clueless.

"I have," he said coldly.

"Takato," the other four Bearers acknowledged his presence and parted so he could join them.

"She'll be here in a few minutes or so. When I contacted her, she was complaining about some idiot genius who couldn't be a hundred percent sure, or something like that... Apparently there were a few complications with the AP's functioning. When Marcus went to retrieve his body, it seems that a digimon thought it a smart idea to cross over to the same side of the AP Marcus was on. Honestly, I'm glad I accidentally destroyed so many primitive digimon on my Earth's Digital World, as I'm sure you two already know," he continued, referring to Davis and Kari. He faced them and went on, "People can be so unreliable these days..."

"And who are you?" JP said, with malice in his voice.

"I could ask you the same thing. Where's your digimon partner? Aren't you a DigiDestined?"

"Now that you mention it, I was wondering why they didn't have any digimon with them," Sora said to her own boyfriend.

"Back off, Takato," Kouji said, defending JP before the other decided to kill him.

"Try and make me, Minamoto. But of course I don't want to have to kill you in front of so many nice young ladies. I highly doubt any of them have the ability to stomach the sight of one human tearing out the organs of another," he mocked him, just as Kouji threw a punch, aiming for Takato's Eye. Takato easily stepped to the side, turned about ninety degrees, thrust his hips at an angle, and kicked Kouji in the gut towards the larger group of DigiDestined. "If you're really one of us, you'd already know that you should never cross me..."

"Lay off!" Tai shouted, as he and Izzy helped up the fellow DigiDestined.

"If I may," a new voice shouted, as a girl with blonde hair, half a foot shorter than Takato, wearing gothic lolita style clothing and a frilly black patch with a celtic cross over her right eye. She stepped between Takato and the DigiDestined senior he was staring down. "Perhaps it is wise not to further disturb Takato. He's had enough problems these last few days. He doesn't need anyone to invoke his wrath," she explained, whispering to Tai and Izzy.

"You're one to talk," Takato spat, but as he was about to raise a fist, a girl with fiery red hair and a young man as tall as Takato, but with Chinese and Japanese features, were at his side, shaking their heads no. Takato lowered his fist as a red dinosaur, white and green rabbit, and a tall yellow fox digimon ran to the sides of their apparent partners. "Sorry you guys had to see that. But like I said to you once before, as my mind continually begins to detach from my body, I can lose control sometimes," he said at first, until a more mild and sweet tone overcame his voice. "I didn't scare you too bad, did I boy?" he asked the red digimon.

"Takato, you didn't hurt him too bad, did you?"

"No," he answered, and pulled something out of his coat pocket, wrapped in plastic. "Guilmon Bread?"

"Oh boy!" the digimon cried happily, and ripped apart the plastic to get at the sweet treat. Takato continued to kneel down next to his partner, a warm smile on his face. A girl with a pony tail on the side of her head and a young man about eighteen years old walked towards the lolita dressed girl, followed by a tiny white digimon with large ears and a larger digimon with a helmet on his head and two pairs of slightly torn red wings on his back, uttering a low noise, perhaps a growl of some sort. The girl smiled, and clutched something in her hands.

"I'm really, really sorry about that," Takato tried again, with softer eyes and a voice practically nothing like the one he just spoke with. It caught the DigiDestined without partners off guard instantly. Even Kouji and Kouichi, fellow Bearers, hadn't seen this side of Takato before. It was as if they were looking at a whole other person. It made them feel all mixed up inside, unsure whether or not he could be trusted, with how dangerous and kind he can be. It made him unpredictable.

Footsteps. Takuya walked forward, no emotion displayed on his face. As he grew within eight feet of them, Takato drew his sword and pointed it at the DigiDestined's neck. His eyes narrowed, harsh, and filled with rage, completely different than just moments ago. He glared daggers into Takuya's eyes. He hissed, "What do you want?"

"It's not what I want. It's what the spirits are trying to tell you. Years in the Digital World. Often by yourself," he trailed off, then the voices of the spirits unified as he spoke again. "We were wondering how a DigiDestined with a kind heart could become someone so cold and ruthless. You're not like any other human we've seen before..."

"I'm not. Human. Not anymore at least," he said, lowering his weapon, sensing not so much of a threat.

"We don't understand..."

"Of course you couldn't. You're not a Bearer," he replied, then said to himself in his own mind, "Not yet at least. I wonder why Kaiya's taken an interest in you. Maybe I'll find out when we get to the Fifth World. She doesn't tell me anything she thinks I shouldn't know..."

"No," Takuya said, this time in his own voice. "I'm not. But that doesn't mean I don't want to know how I can help."

"No one can help me," Takato said to him.

"Because you're going to die?"

As soon as Takuya said those words Takato watched as Jeri screamed and began to sob into her hands. He never told her about the true consequences of being a Bearer. To maintain the balance of spiritual energy in the Worlds, at least two years after being Awakened, and depending on the strength they possess once having said Awakening, a Bearer would pass away and the powers they possess would be used to restore an equal amount of energy between the four Worlds, to prevent either World from gaining too much power over the others. But that didn't answer the question Takato was about to ask.

"How the hell did you-?"

"I'll let you in on something," Takuya whispered, so no one but them could hear. "A week ago, I had this strange dream. You, Kaiya, Marcus, and Alice were talking about what would happened after we went to the Fifth World, if we won and all came back alive. I heard Kaiya remind you that if you aren't killed in battle, you'll die because of the Bearers' curse. She told me never to 'interfere' again, but I couldn't help it. Every day up until now, the time I spent in this world got longer and longer, and it got harder to wake up. So now I'm tied to all of you, and there's nothing I can do about it."

"But why does that concern you? Why do you care if we die?"

"Kaiya said to me yesterday that the Bearers will die and all memory of them will vanish. She said that because I'm tied to the Bearers, I'm going to suffer like one, too..."

"You're going to die with us," he realized.

"I don't want Zoe to know. Or any of them. It'll hurt too much... If I die before you do, promise me you'll protect Zoe. I trust you more than anyone else right now..."

Takato smiled.

"Who ever said you were going to die? You're strong. Just like us. You don't need me to protect your girlfriend, Takuya. But don't worry. I promise."

And then Takuya smiled, too.

"Not that your conversation isn't at all touching, but I think we should get back to what we were doing, or rather, what we were trying to do before we were rudely interrupted," Kaiya said, as she approached the two of them.

"As Takato was saying earlier," Alice announced, "We are the eight Bearers from the four Earths. We were granted our powers from the very moment we became involved with the Digital Worlds, burdened with the responsibilities of protecting them in addition to our own worlds when the time came. When creatures were unleashed into our worlds over two years ago, one by one we began to Awaken to fulfill our roles. I can assure you that the only reason we exist is to gather the DigiDestined and assist them in the Fifth World. And the reason we gathered you here is simple: the Bearers will not be around forever. The DigiDestined must pull together as one fighting force if any of our planets has any chance of survival. If we die, you're on your own."

A tear in the world appeared only a hundred feet away. A creature like the ones they had fought or killed in times past crawled out of pure darkness. Bony wings sprouted from its back and its claws grew sharp. It opened its mouth and unleashed a roar unlike any other creature on Earth.

"What is-?"

As soon as Sora opened her mouth, it leaped with blinding speed and tried to attack her.

"Shadow Meteor!"

"Howling Laser!"

The dark and light colored energies knocked the creature away, causing it to roll on the ground and tumble several feet away from the DigiDestined. As Lobomon and Lowemon drew closer to the creature, the seniors and second generations moved away. Davis and Kari ran forward, beckoning their digimon to come with.

"Digi-Armor Energize!" they called at the same time.

"Gatomon Armor Digivolve to... Nefertimon!"

"Veemon Armor Digivolve to... Magnamon!"

The creature roared, acknowledging the two digimons' presence.

"Rosetta Stone!"

"Magna Blast!"

It dodged, leaping up into the air. As it began to charge, out of nowhere a foot connected with the side of its head, and Marcus sent the creature flying. As he landed, the Bearer analyzed the situation. Six Bearers. God knows how many digimon and DigiDestined. He briefly closed his eyes and counted the concentrations of spiritual energy, to see who was the most useful to destroy this thing. Takato. Alice. He turned his head. Kouji. Kouichi. Davis. Kari. But behind them he noticed another concentration. Somehow it was more powerful than his and Takato's combined.

But before he could ID the DigiDestined, he leaped from his landing spot as a tail with sharp points running along the creature's spine slammed into the ground where he just was. Marcus swung his body around in the air, grabbed hold of his right wrist, and opened his right hand as a beam of orange-red energy blasted at the creature's abdomen. He landed next to Takuya and Takato, both somehow sharing the same expression. Ignoring how creepy that was, he turned to his fellow Bearer.

"Takato. How much time do you think you can buy me?"

"That depends. What are you planning?" he answered, noticing Kaiya followed by four other humans, though probably DigiDestined, that he had never seen before. "Wait. Lemme guess. You're trying the Cleansing Ceremony? For something that big? Huh. I can see why you need me to stall it. Guilmon," he said to his digimon, as soon as he gobbled down the rest of his bread. "What do you say boy? Up for a little Bio-Merging action?"

"Sure thing, Takato!"

"Sounds like Takato needs help," Henry said to Rika. "I'm feeling a bit nostalgic today. How about you, Rika?"

"Sure. What do you think, Renamon?"

"I think that sounds like an excellent idea."

Terriermon just giggled.

"Hey, don't go forgetting about me and Cyberdramon," Ryo said, joining them.

All four Tamers nodded to each other and smiled as they yelled the next few words.

"Bio-Merge Activate!"

"Terriermon bio-merge to MegaGargomon!"

"Renamon bio-merge to Sakuyamon!"

"Cyberdramon bio-merge to Justimon!"

Takato's D-Power floated up in front of him. His body was lifted up into the air as a red hazard symbol appeared in the center of a celtic circle below him. The whole pattern glowed blood red, as did Guilmon's body. Guilmon roared and Takato grabbed his digivice. His Eye glowed the same color as Guilmon. The whole pattern vanished as it became a red, then white light. Inside the beam, Takato held the D-Power close to where his heart was as five pairs of white wings sprouted from his back.

Their eyes opened.

"Guilmon bio-merge to Gallantmon Crimson Mode!"

The light dispersed, leaving in Takato's place Gallantmon's Crimson Mode form. He disappeared for a few seconds, only to reappear between MegaGargomon and Sakuyamon.

"Since when did you learn how to do that?" MegaGargomon asked him.

"Since I got my black belt," Takato said, not really answering the question, "Now come on! Let's show this thing what we're made of!"

"Right!"

The DigiDestined nearby cleared away as the creature roared and shot several darts of black energy at them. Sakuyamon got in front of her friends and into a defensive stance.

"Talisman Sphere!"

As the shield expanded, about to crush the monster, it scurried away on its thirteen legs, whipping its tail around as it went. It cracked the shield down the middle, preventing it from reaching its body. Its wings rearranged themselves into a circle, as more black energy gathered in the center. Its patchwork smile grinned at them with victory, until Justimon rushed forward, jumped, and extended his right arm to attack the creature.

"Thunderclap!"

The creature jumped, and fired. Just as he was about to be caught in the blast, a thorny vine grabbed hold of him and pulled him away from the ground. Rosemon released him immediately and landed next to him.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, but next time could you rescue me with something a little less thorny?"

Before he could be answered, the monster roared, and began to shoot thorns of its own from its abdomen.

"Cat's Eye Beam!"

Instantly several of the thorns were destroyed by a pink beam from Nefertimon's forehead. Eventually she was forced to stop from how much it drained her, and the rest of the thorns were still heading towards Rosemon and Justimon. Then a golden alchemic circle appeared in front of them and redirected the thorns, while shielding them. Alice stepped between the two digimon with her hands outwards towards the creature. Her patch was lifted up, revealing her red colored Eye, almost completely opposing her natural blue eye.

"Alchemy Number Four: Redirection."

Unfortunately it dodged, crawling on its belly as it snaked towards them. Cursing, Alice dropped the circle, and shouted, "Alchemy Number Three: Binding Spell!"

Another gold colored circle appeared underneath the creature, this one of a different design. Out of twelve circles came golden strands of light which reached over, under, and around parts of the monster, holding it there. It roared, then began to thrash around, trying to break free. One of its legs became free seconds later, followed by another one. Alice turned hear head and shouted at the two digimon to get away while they could. All of a sudden the creature broke free completely, and tried to attack them head on. Using her powers, she managed to get Justimon and Rosemon out of the way, split seconds before she was consumed.

"Frozen Hunter!"

Beowolfmon appeared, then slashed at the monster's throat. Alice was freed as the two parts of the creature fell apart. Lowemon dashed towards her, catching the girl before she could fall and hurt herself. He noticed the blood dripping from her nose.

"You okay?" Kouichi asked her as he set her down near Jeri and Yoshino.

"I'm fine. Thank you."

"But your nose is-"

"Just a side-affect. It always happens when I use so much of my power so quickly. With a little rest I should be alright..."

"Kouichi! We could use your help here!" Beowolfmon yelled towards his brother, as the creature's disembodied head and neck rejoined with the rest of its body. It lashed out towards the Bearer with a hand formed by three legs on the left side of its body. Takato and Guilmon rushed forward, holding their sword with both hands.

"Invincible Sword!"

A split second later, the arm had been severed from the rest of the monster's body. Its spine bent upwards and it tried to whack Gallantmon into the wall. Instead Takato and Guilmon separated, and reformed below. They then hit the ground, pushed off, and backed away.

"Guys! Now's our chance!"

"Mega Barrage!"

"Spirit Strike!"

"Cleansing Light!" Beowolfmon called, joining in the unified attack.

"Shadow Meteor!"

"Rosetta Stone!"

"Magna Explosion!"

"Forbidden Temptation!"

"Justice Burst!"

"Crimson Light!"

All the attacks hit at once, creating a huge shock wave which knocked the DigiDestined and digimon back. Smoke rose up from where they made contact with the creature, and no evidence of it being alive could be seen. After at least fifteen seconds of total silence, they opened their eyes, allowing relief to wash over them.

"It's gone. It's over," Yoshino spoke first.

"Hang on. Wait until the smoke clears," Kaiya warned them. "We don't know if..."

Suddenly a pointed spear shot out of the smoke, aiming for the first thing it could hit. Takuya reached down for his digi-vice, but the creature was too fast. He closed his eyes, waiting for death. He heard the sound of flesh being stabbed clean through. He waited and waited, but there was no pain. Although terrified, the young leader opened his eyes, to see what had happened.

"Zoe!"

The girl had been stabbed through her heart and about two feet of the creature's spear reached out, merely an inch between it and Takuya. The young man was petrified and couldn't move. But all around him the DigiDestined were screaming in terror. He was too out of it to hear their voices, though. He couldn't tell where anything was, and he couldn't even feel Kouji and Kouichi pull him up onto his feet. Takuya couldn't hear anything but the beat of his and Zoe's hearts, somehow at the same exact pace. A giant hole seemed to form in either his chest or stomach, he couldn't tell which one it was, as he knelt down and pulled his girlfriend into his arms.

Everything became silent, except for her voice.

"Takuya... Oh, Takuya..."

He wanted to say her name, but his throat felt closed up. Takuya couldn't speak.

"I love you... so much..."

Her limp hand placed a silver locket in his. Inside was a picture of them on their first date, a few months after they saved their World. He looked from Zoe to necklace, then back to her.

She coughed, spitting up blood onto her chin and down her neck. "I'll be waiting for you."

Takuya didn't even remember his lips moving at that point.

"Tell me... tell me you promise..."

"I promise."

When her heart stopped beating, he couldn't fell tears coming.

"Takuya," his best friend tried, tried to reach out to him. But Kouji's words were unanswered and unheard. Then the young leader unknowingly let out a pained scream. All the D-Tectors were suddenly yanked from their owners' hands and began to circle around him. Spheres of light replaced them, and from them came the symbols of the Ancient Spirits. The entire floor began to quake as a fiery, orange, alchemic circle appeared underneath the creature.

"Kaiya! What's going on?" Marcus shouted as the whole world seemed to quake.

"Somehow the spirits reacted to the circle we created with our powers. Takuya's activating it on his own!"

"But how! Only the Bearers can-" Marcus cut himself off. "No... Everyone! Get out! Now!" he shouted as four portals appeared near the DigiDestined.

"Why! What's going on?" Joe shouted from across the room.

"Takuya's activating the circle using the spirits!" Kouji realized. "If we don't get out of here now, the whole place could come falling down on top of us!" he said and ran for it, followed by Alice, his brother, as well as JP and Tommy. Before they could all head into the same portal though, the ground shook again, and Alice, JP, and Tommy were separated from the twins. Alice grabbed hold of one portal as she fell, and guided the others into another.

"Everyone! Get to the portals!" Tai yelled immediately, and began shoving his friends in the direction of the portals. The digimon followed their partners respectively, with the Tamers each following someone else into a portal with their own digimon. Yoshino guided Kristy to her brother before going into one portal with Lalamon, and Thomas heading into the one next to her with Gaomon. Eventually everyone had managed to escape, and the last of the creature's remains disintegrated.

The white world collapsed on itself and was absorbed by the darkness surrounding it.

.

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My name is Oshima Kaiya.

And I was the first Bearer.

The Bearers were created as a last line of defense to preserve human existence. In order to do so, we guided the DigiDestined together, because eventually even we were not strong enough to stop the great evil on our own.

Each one of us seeks something different than the others. Some of us seek answers. Others, redemption. And still others wish they could return to their normal lives.

Sadly, this can never happen.

From the day we were born, we were doomed. To never live the way we wanted to. To die young. And once we do die, to be forgotten entirely.

Our sole duty is to protect the balance of the Worlds at all costs, and no matter what we must sacrifice to keep it that way. We are the servants of the universe, bound by fate to ensure that neither darkness nor light nor chaos nor unity be too powerful. And when that happens, to do whatever it takes.

But I died.

So another human, also bound to the Digital World for eternity, is going to serve as my replacement. It is said that in exactly ten years, ten days, and ten hours after my death 'he' will be Awakened as the Ninth Bearer. He will be the Warrior of Unity.

However, even though the Ninth Bearer will be Awakened, it is also said that one Bearer will fall.

And another will die.

Already Takuya has been Awakened, and Takato has fallen into darkness.

I pray that Marcus will not leave me.

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"1D0L-12 has returned within base perimeters. Unknown energy signatures detected," the security system informed its operators.

"It appears Number 12 has returned with the necessary DNA sample. Should we prepare Number 13 for the merging sequence, Number 4?" said a young girl's voice.

"No Number 3. I'd like to see who Keichi brought back for the DNA sample," a man hardly in his thirties replied.

Metallic doors opened and in walked a young man about sixteen years old, carrying Zoe. He set her down on the floor. There was no longer any sign of her beret, boots, or sweater. And her dress had somehow become solid white. As she stirred, the man spoke once more.

"Keichi. I told you to bring back the DNA sample the Scavenger took from that inter-dimension. Why did you bring me 1D0L-13?"

"This isn't Marie," he corrected the man. "Her name is Orimoto Izumi. She's Marie's doppelganger from the Third World. It turns out that the DNA sample we needed wasn't just someone's: it was Marie's. With the information we can obtain from the sample, we could repair Marie's DNA, and maybe..."

"I am not concerned with whether or not your girlfriend will regain sanity, but I am worried that if Number 13's DNA is not repaired, we will not be able to carry out with our plans and burn down the facility that made her that way in the first place."

"And what of the DigiDestined?" a woman asked the leader.

"Excuse me?"

"You said it yourself, Number 4. These humans are unlike any others we've ever seen before. If your theory is correct, then there's absolutely no way that we can pull this off without any of them interfering."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," said an arrogant, young, male voice.

"Number 8. How dare you interrupt us!" Number 4 shouted at the subordinate.

"Yeah, yeah. So punish me later. Big deal. But like I said, I'm not so sure the DigiDestined will be a problem when the time comes," he continued.

Heavy footsteps entered the room. A young man clad in all white, save for his black undershirt. His jacket reached to his hips, and a silver chain hung from one of his white pant pockets. White, fingerless gloves remained lax at his sides as he lifted his head and looked at them with soft red eyes.

"His name's Takato. And he's just dying to help us."

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To Be Continued  
In Digital Chaos

* * *

And there ya have it. The conclusion to Digtial Crisis.

(Bet you didn't see that coming, huh? ^^)

Honestly, I gotta say... this chapter was probably the hardest to figure out how to end.

As you read only a few lines above, the story continues in Digital Chaos. I'll probably have it up in a few weeks, but to start the story, I need help from you, dear readers.

Digital Chaos takes place on a whole other world, identical to Earth, and filled with humans (mostly). In other words, there will be a lot of characters.

If interested (and I hope so) please see my profile or PM me for information.

Who knows? Maybe your OC will be featured!

Please review and thanks again!

PS: The link to my deviantART profile will be posted in a few days so you can see the sketches of the Bearers...


	7. Epilogue

Digital Crisis

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-Epilogue-  
Secrets

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_"Secrets are made to be  
found out with time." _

Charles Stanford (1823 - 1886)

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I'm Marcus. Marcus Damon that is. Or maybe you would prefer Masaru? Daimon? Ultimate Fighter? Either way, you probably know who I am.

No? Well let me explain.

I'm not just a DigiDestined. And I'm not exactly your average human anymore either.

Still following me? Yes? No? Well too bad...

After Thomas Norstein, Yoshino Fujieda, Keenan Crier, the digimon, and every other human lent their power to us in order to defeat King Drasil, my Earth and the Digital World avoided a collision course. And when the time came for the digimon to return to the Digital World to maintain peace, I, not wanting to separate with Agumon, went with them. Together we acted as the peacekeepers for the Digital World, defeating any enemy that threatened its peace.

But only a few weeks after coming to the Digital World, I came across Lilithmon, one of the Seven Great Demon Lords. From what Gaomon told me she was supposed to have been defeated long ago and locked away deep inside the Digital World. Before he could tell me that there were rumors of her escape, she called me by my name. And then she said, "It's me. Kaiya."

For a split second I saw a grown-up form of the little girl I played with as a child. I remembered everything instantly. Including her death. The blast that was created not only destroyed the mountain range where Drasil used to be near, but caused Kaiya to lose her digimon form, and Lilthmon's warped conscience to merge with my own.

Kaiya later explained that I was something called a Bearer, a human granted great power and the ability to cross over into other Worlds, but at the price of a drastically shortened lifespan. She said that as a Bearer it was my duty to protect all the Earths with Digital Worlds, and to help the DigiDestined save all of human existence. Kaiya told me that I would also have to help her find the other Bearers.

There are a maximum of two Bearers that can be born on any of the Earths. When I asked her about the other Bearer for our World, she said, "You're looking at her. But because I died I could no longer hold the power of a Bearer, and since you were the only one left, my power was passed onto you." But then she explained, "But because my power was passed onto you, and not by an act of my free will, your lifespan will be shortened even further. I'm sorry."

When she asked if I wanted to know how much time I had left, I told her that I didn't want to know now. But if she felt that my time would be coming soon, I would want her to tell me. So in the meantime I helped her. Eventually we reached the Tamers' Digital World, and asked the Digimon Sovereign there if they knew anything about where the DigiDestined were. Zhuqiaomon immediately took it the wrong way and began to accuse Takato of betraying his promise to them. Of course Kaiya and I didn't know what they were talking about at the time, but as we later found out, Takato had made a promise to help repair the Digital World in exchange for not telling any other humans of a way to the Digital World. That was the first mistake, and the last one we would ever make.

Takato Woke. It was disastrous. The lowest plane of his Digital World was destroyed, and there was nothing I could have done to stop it. But Alice McCoy, his friend and partner, managed to teleport him away so he didn't destroy the Sovereign instead. Now she regrets that day too, almost as much as Takato.

After the Hazard Incident, which was what several digimon including the Sovereign eventually called it, Kaiya and I decided to do the least we could and help Takato and Alice repair the Digital World.

During that time we learned from the more innocent and kind half of Takato's split personality that the Digital World had been under attack by a program called the D-Reaper, originally designed at the time of the Digital World's creation to ensure that no creature grew outside its original parameters. But the D-Reaper itself soon began to evolve, learning from the data it collected, and wiped out many digimon ancestors, some of which Alice and Takato referred to as DigiGnomes. The D-Reaper's activity declined, until later when the Tamers went to the Digital World to rescue Calumon. A portion of the D-Reaper followed the Tamers back to Earth, and grew to enormous proportions by attaining a human host. Eventually it was sent back to the Digital World and regressed back into its original form. But because of this the Tamers' digimon were also sent back after reverting to their original forms as well.

A few weeks after those events, Takato found the portal his digimon had dug up in the park was still active, and decided to go through. He found the Tamers' digimon and with their help, he located the Sovereign. Wanting to help repair the damage to the Digital World, he promised to never reveal the portal's existence to anyone else. He met Alice, or rather, met her again, and the two have been partners ever since.

Takato said it was funny, really. He never expected how much a few DigiGnomes could affect a single person's life so drastically. I found it funny how such cute little digimon (They are, so don't call me a girl if you know what's good for you) seemed to just love hanging around a guy who could be inhumanly kind one moment and inhumanly cruel the next with the squeeze of a trigger.

Eventually the time came when Takato was able to leave his World entirely. After a few brief lessons, Kaiya and I were confident he was ready. So for his first mission as a Bearer, Takato was supposed to travel to the First World and locate their Bearers. But I think he forgot about the part where he was supposed to leave his weapons behind. Later we found out from the new Bearers, Kari Kamiya and Davis Motomiya, that Takato had brutally destroyed the Agent-level creature that had attacked them. I should have realized then that carrying weapons around was going to be a constant problem for Takato.

After Alice sensed it, she contacted him using their Link and asked if he had completed the mission. Apparently he was going to try and go back to his World and tell his friends where he was for the past two years and where he was going three years before that. But before that could happen he was sent on a mission to one of the lower layers of the Digital World. Then Alice was called to the Sovereign's plane. Apparently Takato had brought up the subject of telling the others Tamers the truth, and they had decided he was right. Alice was given the task of traveling to the gate with help from one Ryo Akiyama, and once arriving in Shinjuku, would meet up with Takato.

About a week later or so, we heard from Alice. About half of the Tamers would go to the Fifth World with us, but the rest would stay and defend Earth. Kaiya and I decided to recruit the remaining DigiDestined to give Alice and Takato a little breathing room. Kaiya used her human form and left for the Third World. When she realized she would need back-up she contacted me and I came right away. That prevented them from killing her, but only a few minutes after I left on an emergency, Kouichi and Kouji tried killing each other. Thankfully their Awakenings only lasted less than two minutes. Any longer and one of them would have actually succeeded.

Once everyone had settled down, Kaiya explained that we needed their help. She told them what was going to happen to the Four Worlds as well as about the Bearers and their roles in all of this. Unfortunately she couldn't hold her human form any longer, and had to retreat to the White World for healing. Before she went she told them to go to Shibuya Station and down the elevator.

"It will take you to your destination," she said before leaving.

Meanwhile, while the twins were busy trying to kill each other, I was using the very much damaged AP in their World to try and get to mine. I got it to transfer me to my World, or at least, part of me. My body didn't make it through the gate since it was closed, but my essence and mind somehow managed to make it through. Thank goodness Thomas was around to help me or I don't know where I'd be now...

After I got my body back, Kaiya and I explained the situation to the rest of my friends.

Eventually, with everyone filled in and our leave set for twenty four hours from that moment, the Bearers settled down and began to talk. We figured we might as well kill some time and get to know each other a little more.

Davis and Kari went first.

They were DigiDestined from the First World: a place where time moved faster on the Digital World than on Earth. In addition to the normal digivolutions their digimon were able to access things called Digi-Eggs, which they would use to armor up their digimon. Apparently one of the DigiDestined used to be out to conquer the Digital World using things called Dark Rings which could control digimon, as well as control spires, and a digivice which kept the uncontrolled digimon from evolving the way they were supposed to. The Digi-Eggs gave power to five digimon: Veemon, Hawkmon, Armadillomon, Gatomon, and Patamon, and were accessed using a device called a D-Terminal.

And when Kari and Davis Woke, their digimon were soon allowed to access these Digi-Eggs without the use of a D-Terminal. But that wasn't the only thing. Apparently, they could also read each other's thoughts and communicate through them, which is why I hear them almost always either speaking at the same time or finishing each other's sentences.

They had already told me, Kaiya, Takato, and Alice about their adventures, but filled in the two brothers shortly.

Soon Kouichi and Kouji went next. They were two of the six DigiDestined from the Third World. There the Digital World was only known to about fifty or so kids, which kept it safe from any adults who could ever become 'interested' in it. But there was no way for them to prove it existed. Not only because the hidden entrances to the Digital World were destroyed, but because you could leave Earth, spend months in the Digital World, and come home at the exact same time you left.

However, only six of the several children became DigiDestined. They didn't fight with partner digimon, but with the spirits of the Legendary Warriors: ten digimon who battled against Lucemon long ago and after defeating him, imprisoned him in the core of the Digital World, supposedly for all time. But he corrupted Cherubimon: one of the three Celestial Digimon chosen to govern the Digital World. Each of them were given some of the Ancient Spirits, and in corrupting Cherubimon, the five Spirits he was given to guard became evil. Kouichi was unlucky enough to receive the Ancient Spirits of Darkness, some of the many spirits Cherubimon had when he was corrupted. And by receiving this power, he too was stained by Lucemon's evil.

After he was freed from his corrupted Spirits by Kouji, Kouichi willingly joined the DigiDestined to defeat Cherubimon, and eventually Lucemon. But when he sacrificed himself to protect his injured friends, his Spirits of Darkness were soon passed to his brother. He became data and was absorbed by Lucemon, and soon after, Susanoomon, a single digimon in possession of all ten Legendary Warrior Spirits, was born. Kouji and Takuya both as Susanoomon managed to defeat Lucemon's Chaos Mode, and scanned all of his good data with their digivices.

But Lucemon's evil data manifested into Lucemon's Shadow Lord Mode and tried to go to the human world. The DigiDestined tried to mount a final assault and were defeated easily. When all seemed lost, all the DigiDestined fused with all the Ancient Spirits to become a completely unified Susanoomon. They dragged Lucemon back to the Digital World and destroyed him for good. All the data he had absorbed was used to restore the Digital World to its natural state. The DigiDestined returned home, the portal to the Digital World closed for good.

When the two were finished, they asked about Takato and Alice.

Alice did most of the talking. She explained that Takato and herself were from a version of Earth where Digimon had become a popular card game among several young children throughout Japan and other parts of the world. But the digimon eventually began to grow and grow until they reached the real world. Some were violent and tried to enter the real world with destructive purposes, while others had wills to evolve that were so strong they appeared and met their Tamer. The Tamers fought with their digimon by using cards from the digimon game to modify their digimon partner. A blue card meant that the receiving Tamer's digimon was ready to evolve to a higher level.

From the beginning life was pretty normal, but soon Earth came under attack by Devas: twelve digimon that served under Digimon Sovereign Zhuqiaomon and were sent to Earth to bring the Catalyst back to the Digital World. It turned out that this Catalyst was a tiny little digimon name Calumon, who had befriended the Tamers during his time on Earth, but also contained within him the ability for a digimon to evolve to powerful new forms should they not have a Tamer. When he was taken back to the Digital World, the Tamers eagerly went after him.

Eventually they discovered that the Digimon Sovereign were in fact not the enemy the Tamers were supposed to fight.

At this point Takato briefly explained what the D-Reaper was and why it had become more aggressive to the point when it started attacking the innocent. When he was done I could hear him whisper he was beginning to wonder whether or not he and the D-Reaper were becoming alike.

Alice continued and finished up the story the way she and Takato had when they met me and Kaiya. She then went on and explained that with her duty to help the Tamers fulfilled, the Sovereign released her from her active duties for the war with the D-Reaper. She then began to help several digimon in lower planes of the Digital World to rebuild their world. She re-met Takato almost a month later and the two from then on would work as partners in repairing the Digital World. While Takato grew mentally and physically, Alice began to come out of her shell and form a close relationship with him as a friend.

Then she said that all changed when Zhuqiaomon accused Takato of being a traitor to the Digital World. Both of them had lost their hearts by the time the explosion was dispersed and the smoke cleared, but Takato lost a vital part of his sanity.

Since that day, I've never seen a person more cruel and kind than him, I said.

"How's that possible?" Kouji of course asked.

She didn't know.

But throughout her time in his company, Alice explained, it seemed that Takato's damaged psyche, in addition to the powers he received as a Bearer, eventually created two seemingly separate personalities: the originally kind and humanitarian half of Takato which she dubbed 'Kiyoshi', or 'pure', and the cold, destructive half which she named 'Takeshi', or 'violent'. Kiyoshi tended to appear in moments of peace and happiness with his friends and the digimon, but Takeshi would be brought out quickly whenever he was required for Takato's survival, the defense of others, or whenever Takato's temper flared to severe enough levels.

Davis and Kari asked which one Takato was right now.

Alice replied that he was neither; when Takato was not Kiyoshi or Takeshi, he was 'Amari' or 'remainder', because she believed he was the result of Takato's Waking. Amari was the rest of Takato's personality without Takeshi and Kiyoshi, as well as the median between the two. Amari provided a safe transition between Takato's other conflicting personalities, and maintained Takato's psychological, spiritual, and physical well-being.

"Thus," she said. "He is Takato whenever he is neither content nor violent, but that's about all I know. However, it seems that Amari is the only one who can use Takato's Bearer abilities, and is the most logical of the three."

"We've known each other for well over a year and you wait until now to tell us this?" I asked her.

"Even I couldn't be sure. Takato was never around enough for me to tell a difference, but with all this inter-World activity going on, it's obvious now, of course..."

"Of course."

But now, I suppose none of that really matters. Ever since the first creature appeared, I knew something was going on, something much bigger than ourselves and our Worlds.

The white, warped creatures I'm sure have appeared dozens of times in all the Worlds are what we have eventually dubbed The Myriad. There are, as of right now, five different levels for these creatures: a Scout, the lowest level, gathers information for its higher-ups and has little to no combat ability; a Drone, a large and formidable foe with various laser attacks, which often hang around in groups; a Scavenger, a creature designed specifically for hunting, tracking down, and killing the Bearers, with highly adaptive capabilities to retrieve the Eyes; an Agent, a typically humanoid being with combat skills rivaling that of Takato's and my own; and finally, a Throne, which according to a report from Alice and Takato, was the highest level of The Myriad which could maintain a physical form on their own.

From what they could gather before the captured Agent self-destructed, the Thrones served their master, a being which the Agent referred to as such.

Eventually, through subsequent captures of various other creatures, we confirmed the existence of the Fifth World: a place where humans and digimon used to live in peace on one world. That was, until a group of scientists created the Chimera Project: a program designed to create a hybrid creature of both digimon and human DNA, with the purpose of studying the experimental subjects to better understand the similarities and differences between humans and digimon.

But there was a fatal back-set: the tenth experiment was a cross between the DNA of a dangerous criminal and that of a powerful angel digimon, to test the reactions between 'evil' and 'good', respectively, in a single being.

The result was a demonic humanoid who called himself The Destroyer. He and three other experiments, all equally hateful of the program which created them, rebelled, defeating all who got in their way. They attacked the Thrones' master, the head scientist of the program, and destroyed his physical form, causing him to become an inanimate creature of pure evil. He corrupted the other experiments by tainting their digimon DNA with his own darkness, thus creating the first Thrones. They attacked the four experiments, sealing their power away in an attempt to destroy all research for the Project.

But the daughter of the head scientist had become attached to one of the beings' human forms and instead cast out the energies to the other Worlds, as if in hopes that somewhere in the universe these beings would regain physical form in new humans. She was subsequently killed for interfering, her body and memories destroyed, and her essence sent away to retrieve the energies she had died to protect.

These energies eventually became what we now call the Eyes. As the Agent revealed, each set belonged to one of the four rebellious experiments. The Eyes of Thought belonged to the 'Warrior of Light'; the Eyes of Hearts to the 'Warrior of Chaos'; the Eyes of Spirits to the 'Warrior of Unity', and the Eyes of Form to the 'Warrior of Darkness'. Kaiya of course asked it what it meant by Warriors, and who they were, but that was the point where it had self-terminated, and left us with more questions than answers.

The four of us (meaning Kaiya, Takato, Alice, and myself) have never mentioned it to the others since.

We have not come up with any answers to explain the information.

I wasn't surprised when Kaiya told us to keep it secret from the other Bearers. After all, she had been hiding the ugly truth from Takato almost a year now.

You see, all Bearers are unique, not just because of the Eyes and the powers we receive, but because of who we are and how we chose to react to the situation. When I Woke, for instance, it was because of the suppressed memories of Kaiya's death that were brought back to the surface of my mind. But on the other hand, Takato Woke because of his most dangerous emotions, his momentarily damaged psyche, and the naturally hazardous energy present in the Eyes of Hearts all reacted together.

My lifespan shortened because of the presence of two Eyes within me at once. Takato's was shortened because of the several conflicting energies within him. I can't even imagine what will happen to the others.

Kaiya said that Davis and Kari would be safe, because their minds were secured in their Wakings. But then there's Alice, Kouji, and Kouichi.

Kouji and Kouichi tried killing each other as soon as they Woke. Negative energy like that would eventually backlash on them, but Kaiya and Alice estimated the average lifespan to be as long as about three more years after having Woken. When factoring in that energy though, they estimated their time left at about two years, give or take a few months.

Alice refused to tell any of us (except for maybe Takato; they're all buddy-buddy with each other and keep secrets they would never tell the rest of us) about how long she had left to live. So I'm guessing about two more years tops.

But even so, the time we have left isn't really all that important, all things considered.

The Bearers gathered the DigiDestined to save all of the Worlds. That was our first task. But now that we've entered the Fifth World, our mission is to aid the DigiDestined on their quest to save their Worlds; to protect them no matter what, even if we have to put our own lives on the line for their sakes.

Still, there's too many unanswered questions.

How did Kaiya know all of this from the start? Sure she was the first Bearer, but that didn't mean she knew it just from that; it didn't happen to me or anyone else either.

Second, why us? Out of everyone in the universe, why were the DigiDestined chosen for this mission? If there is a God, does he hate us? Or is this just another part of the 'natural order' that Alice babbles about sometimes?

And lastly, is it enough? Sure, we have seven super DigiDestined that can actually hold their own against our mysterious enemies. But even if we had an army of them we might not stand a chance.

All this goes through my head as I step into the portal and look back on the White World falling apart around me.

And I realize we don't have any other choice.

.

.

.

End Epilogue

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No comments... Brain fried...


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